Molly McCann appeared to retire after a loss to Lara Fritzen Procopio in the preliminaries of UFC Vegas 18, but that was not the case.
McMann put his gloves on the screen before the judges declared Procopio the winner by unanimous decision in the flyweight contest. As she later explained, the gesture was not related to her professional career.
“Before I get into the subject,” she wrote. “I left the gloves in the cage for my father. There is still a fight in this old dog. “
McMann had already talked about the inspiration he took from his father, who passed away before she arrived at the UFC. The fight against Procopio took place on what would have been his birthday.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m going to give him the best birthday present ever,'” McCann told UFC.com. “When the chips are low and I’m getting punched in the head, I’m almost suffocating, or I’m being suffocated, or I’m having my orbital bone broken into pieces or I’m having my nose broken with my knees in the face, I don’t stop because of it, and I know how much he fought each day, and I will fight even more. The fighter takes the pain away, and he always wanted to see me fight [in Las Vegas], so I have to do this for him. “
The decision loss to Procopio marked the second straight setback for McCann, who opened his career in the octagon with a 3-1 streak. Despite a strong armbar attempt on Monday, she was constantly overtaken by the Brazilian, who won her first win in the octagon after a loss for her debut against Karol Rosa.