This past Saturday in the co-main event of UFC London, England’s own Molly McCann (13-6) took center stage. The former Cage Warriors champion and popular fighter was looking to avoid her second straight loss as she took on Julija Stoliarenko (11-7-1).
Stoliarenko was coming down from 135 pounds for this fight. A tad surprising given the fact that Stoliarenko had struggled some in her career just making 135. However, she was dedicated and ended up making the weight for the fight with McCann.
McCann is a bit smaller for 125, but she was a former Cage Warriors champ at flyweight and has seen some success. However, she was completely overwhelmed by Erin Blanchfield last year and this was a fight where she was looking to bounce back.
However, she wasn’t able to. After an early exchange the fight ended up on the mat. Once it was there, it was all Stoliarenko who was able to lock in a nasty arm bar. Stoliarenko prevented McCann from getting out and torqued the arm forcing a tap from McCann who was in visible pain. A devastating result for McCann at UFC London.
Moving to UFC’s strawweight division
Molly McCann took a day to reflect then posted on Instagram today her plans for the future. McCann revealed that she’s planning on dropping down to the UFC’s strawweight division and pointed to the size discrepancy as a key point in her decision.
So, now that “Meatball” Molly is moving down to 115, who should we be looking at as potential opponents. Well, I think we should look at a slow build to get her into contention. One opponent I could see from McCann to start out with is the winner of the Elise Reed – Cynthia Calvillo fight.
Both win names and good wins on their resumes. Another option could be someone like Cory McKenna who has won two straight fights. I’ve seen Michelle Waterson-Gomez’s name thrown out there as a potential option, but I think the UFC should aim lower to start especially with McCann’s losing streak and lack of experience at strawweight.