UFC Fight Night: Tearful Molly McCann 'proud' of career after MMA retirement - 'You don’t live off your past'

Molly McCann's Mixed Martial Arts career is over after she announced her retirement at UFC Fight Night London. The 34-year-old suffered a painful first round defeat to newcomer Alexia Thainara and immediately decided to call time on her fighting career admitting later that she is currently 'not good enough'. Watch and stream top UFC action live and on demand on TNT Sports and discovery+

Tearful McCann admits she is ‘not good enough’ for UFC

Video credit: TNT Sports

An emotional Molly McCann admitted to ‘not being good enough’ after calling time on her career but said she was proud of all she had achieved.

The 34-year-old was submitted in the first round of her strawweight clash with Alexia Thainara at UFC Fight Night London and announced her retirement during her post-fight interview.

The loss left her with a 14-8 record in the UFC having also lost her previous fight to Bruna Brasil in Manchester last year – a bout in which she fractured her leg.

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Making her comeback, McCann was originally scheduled to face Istela Nunes but Thainara was drafted in as a late replacement.

Reflecting on the defeat and her retirement afterwards, McCann told TNT Sports that she cannot live off her past performances in the sport.

"When I broke my leg last year," she revealed. "It took me everything to get back and it was really hard for my body to… I’m not a spring chicken.

"I gave my everything, and everything kept breaking in the camp, things were going wrong.

"I just gave my best account of myself and being in there. I felt fine, I was amped, I was pumped.

Highlights: McCann bows out after brutal loss to debutant Thainara

Video credit: TNT Sports

"To be outmanoeuvred in the first round, I’m not good enough to be in there. And that is ok.

"I’m not here to make up the numbers, I’m here to win, and if I’m not winning, and I fight like that, I don’t deserve to wear the gloves, in my opinion.

"This is the best of the best in the world and it doesn’t matter what I’ve done in my past and where I’ve took this sport.

"You don’t live off your past and your past performances you live off your current ones.

"I’m not good enough right now, and that is the top and the bottom of it."

McCann, who had the nickname ‘Meatball’ from her job working in Subway at the start of her career, only began her career in Mixed Martial Arts at the age of 24, has been hailed for her rapid and impressive rise in the sport

Alongside friend and fellow Liverpool-born star Paddy Pimblett, the pair have been credited for raising the profile of the sport in their home city and in England.

Although, she never won a UFC title, McCann did win the flyweight championship in the Cage Warriors promotion and says she will celebrate everything she has achieved in the sport.

"I get to go out with all you people who have been here from the beginning," she said. "I get to go and party after this and celebrate a f****** great career and I just get to be really thankful for everything that I’ve managed to do.

"I’m so whole and so full and so thankful for it and I’m not doubting my decision."