“Here we go again,” Molly McCann said to kick off her UFC Vegas 85 media day appearance.
It’s new-look “Meatball” Molly this week, with the former flyweight having dropped to 115lbs for a rematch with Diana Belbita, a Romanian living and training in Canada.
On the weight cut front and dropping ten pounds, “the only difference in the cut is the macro change,” explained McCann (13-6). “I’ve changed from a higher fat [diet], we took that out and gave me more carbs to fuel me. And instead of running six or seven kilometers I’m now running ten, maybe twelve some days.”
“I’ve added one or two extra runs in a week, and that’s been the only difference,” she finished.
McCann became something of a star after back-to-back spinning back elbow finishes landed at home in England in 2022. Her next two fights went drastically wrong, however, with McCann submitted by Erin Blanchfield and Julija Stoliarenko.
That appears have have prompted the drop in weight, leading McCann to a rematch with Belbita after defeating “The Warrior Princess” via decision in 2019 (Belbita was deducted a point for a fence grab in the fight).
“The drop was because I was outsized, and I think you can all see that was always the deal. I’d always get in there and the girls would be so big.”
Molly McCann had been told she’d lose muscle if she dropped divisions. “This time I’ve done it and I haven’t,” she stated, adding that “I know every fighter will say this but I don’t cheat. I really don’t cheat. I give everything I can, but I found more, and I’ve done that because this is my dream. My dream is to do this for as long and as many fights as I can. I’ve probably done it at the right time, I’ve got a bit of a name behind me, I’ve managed to beat some good girls, I’ve got some finishes at a higher weight.”
McCann feels she’s looking good at 115lbs, and she successfully made weight on Friday. “I think if you look at me, I’m not drawn in,” she stated on Wednesday.
That’s not to say cutting the extra weight, and dieting down more than ever before, has been easy.
“I actually like Diana Belbita but every meal time I was like ‘I hate you. I hate you for doing this to me,'” quipped McCann. “But look, no one’s asked me, no one’s forcing me to do this. I’m doing this because I believe the difference was I was being outsized. When I was being finished in the jiu-jitsu situations, it was always a blackbelt cutting a lot, a lot of weight.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 85 media day appearance by Molly McCann above.
