Britain’s most successful female UFC fighter on knowing when to stand her ground, why she won’t box in Saudi Arabia and aiming to win a world title in the next year“I give my hidings and I take my hidings and so they have seen me with snapped ligaments in my knee, broken feet, broken toes, broken hands, stitches, broken legs,” Molly McCann says of the damage she has endured as a fighter and the impact it has had on her mum and her partner, Fran Parman.“It’s traumatic for Fran and even more traumatic for my mum.I’m 35 and I’ve been in the gym since I was 12.I had my first fight at 16.I’ve spent most of my life fighting.

”McCann boxed as a teenager and she won an ABA title.But, at a time when women’s boxing was still undermined, she turned to mixed martial arts and eventually became the most successful female British fighter in the UFC.McCann retired in March after 14 savage UFC bouts; but, within days, she became a professional boxer.On Saturday night she will have her second contest in boxing’s paid ranks.At home in Liverpool the rigours of boxing are etched into McCann’s face.

She has just finished another gruelling training session while locked deep within a weight cut,McCann makes me smile and wince when she opens the fridge door to reveal a padlock on the container which stores the tastier food that only Parman can enjoy,But she believes her partner and her mum have to absorb the most strain before she fights Ebonie Cotton at the NEC in Birmingham,“Mum’s always struggled, because her life’s about protecting me,” McCann says,“She likes to be in control of everything.

But I’m the thing she can’t control.We’ve now got this really cool balance where she knows what to say to not trigger me and I know how much information to give without triggering her.But, two weeks before the fight, nightmares start again because it’s a lot for a parent to deal with.I’m still Mum’s little girl.”A late November afternoon darkens and the boxing on McCann’s giant television screen glows.

We’ve talked while watching an early Miguel Cotto fight, and Terence Crawford’s masterful destruction of Errol Spence, as McCann’s love of boxing shines out,There’s still enough light outside for me to see Parman return home,Knowing we’re in the midst of our interview, Parman, who became a reality TV star on The Only Way is Essex, opens the front door quietly,I ask McCann how Parman is coping with this latest camp,“Fran,” the fighter hollers, “we’ve got a question for you.

”A smiling Parman offers me an impromptu hug but her expression changes when I ask about McCann’s next fight.“I get bad anxiety,” Parman says.“I know Molly can fight but you see her go through all the dieting and hard work and it’s really difficult.I can’t go to this next fight because I panic so much.”Did Parman attend McCann’s first pro boxing bout when an outclassed Kate Radomska was rescued by her corner in the sixth round? “Yes.

It’s very different from the UFC because she wants to prove herself even more and she wants those titles.I really believe in Molly but seeing her go through all of it is too much.”McCann suggests that “there’s a reason why some men, awesome fighters, leave their families to get away from home.But this camp’s been the best one so far.Fran’s learning not to think ‘poor Molly’ and not to take things personally.

Like my mum says: ‘Fran, if you’re on the bus, you’re on the fucking bus.’”In past relationships, McCann would become frustrated when her partners couldn’t understand her psychology as a fighter.“You’re claustrophobic in your body because you just want to compete.You’ve got pressure on you, you’re starving and you don’t get five minutes to yourself.”Parman nods: “I just think you’re going to war.

My grandad used to talk about the war a lot and what he went through,I’m like: ‘OK, that’s Molly,She’s a soldier,’”After Parman leaves I ask McCann how she broke the news to her mum that she was going to swap the UFC cage for the boxing ring,“Me and Fran were in Italy after I retired on the Saturday,” she says.

“On the Wednesday I agreed a deal with Eddie Hearn,Four days [of retirement],On the Thursday my mum rings and I told her I’ve just signed a 10-fight deal with Eddie,Put the phone down,She’s shouting: ‘Molly!’ She thought it was done because when I retired we hugged and she was like: ‘Sweet Lord, it’s over.

’ I eventually rang my mum back and she said: ‘I can get on board with this because I know you know how to box with your eyes shut.’“I then rang my nan because she’s the matriarch.She said: ‘I might come to these fights.’ She came to watch me win a national championship and the world title in MMA.So I said: ‘You’ll only come to one fight – when I headline Goodison Park – because you’re a good omen.

’”McCann looks steadily at me.“I have so much experience from the highest level in the UFC that I’m on the express train to a world title by the end of next year or early 2027.”She is relieved to be back in boxing as the UFC was punishing physically and emotionally.I often wondered how McCann, an avowed socialist who feels an affinity with Zohran Mamdani rather than the many Maga-mad zealots who support the UFC, dealt with the reactionary worldview and homophobia that often clogs the organisation.Dana White, the head of the UFC, failed to sanction fighters such as Sean Strickland, who regularly spewed out homophobic abuse, and Bryce Mitchell, who praised Hitler as “a good guy I’d go fishing with.

He fought for his country.He wanted to purify it by kicking the greedy Jews out, that were destroying his country and turning them all into gays.”White dismissed him as “dumb and ignorant” but defended Mitchell’s right to “free speech”.As a gay woman who campaigns against prejudice, surely McCann felt disheartened? “Not any more,” McCann says.“When I was younger it was a lot harder.

But when you understand the kind of person you’re dealing with you get to choose to be offended or not,Of course it’s hard to be in rooms with people who are homophobic or racist or misogynistic,But I’ve learned when to stand my ground and when it’s just not worth it,”McCann shrugs: “I’m a scouse female gay athlete who supports Everton – it’s like my cards are marked already,I used to fume because the world has a big problem but, the older I’ve got, the less agitated I’ve become.

”Sign up to The RecapThe best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s actionafter newsletter promotionWhat does she think of White – a staunch ally of Donald Trump? “Honestly, when you were about to fight he made you believe you’re a gangster.He was also very courteous to me.Personally or online, when asked about me, he never said anything wrong.After I retired I gave him a hug and said: ‘Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.’ He then gave me a job to be an [UFC] ambassador which he didn’t need to do.

”She adds: “Dana can be a ruthless businessman,If you work hard for him, you’ll be looked after,And if you don’t, in the blink of an eye you’ll be put by,But I got everything I asked for from him – fighting in Liverpool, Madison Square Garden, Boston, Vegas, Manchester and London,”McCann has come full circle, being back in boxing, the sport which first captured her when she was 12.

“My cousin James lived a few doors down and he said: ‘I’m going to the boxing gym round the corner.Do you want to come?’ I was like: ‘Yes!’ It was St Teresa’s ABC and I walked in and the head coach was like: ‘Oh, no girls, sorry.’“But whenever our James went, I’d be watching through the [gym] window.One day, as he’d seen how persistent I was, the coach said: ‘Have you bought your gummy and your wraps?’ I was like: ‘Yeah!’ He let me in and said ‘right, watch the boys’ and then he let me go in the ring and have a move round with him.”After a few weeks the coach presented her with a trophy and said: ‘Give that to your mam and say you’re the only girl we’re going to let in here to box.

”A few years later, after her weight category was not included in the first programme for women’s boxing at the 2012 Olympics, McCann switched to MMA.Another form of repressive inequality has now gripped the fight game.The growth of women’s boxing has dipped since Saudi Arabia took control.Would she ever fight in Saudi Arabia? “No.My integrity means more than money,” she says.

“I don’t think the Saudis would want me boxing for them anyway, for my life choices.But in female boxing we still have promotions doing all-women cards and female fighters like [her second cousin] Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano being paid seven figures for their fight.Is that a positive step? Yes.Is there a positive step in starting 12 three-minute rounds on [Jake Paul’s] MVP bills? Absolutely.”McCann finds fresh hope in boxing – as she does in ordinary life.

“I can’t change [government] policies,” she says, “but I can make a difference in my community,My political standpoint is now all about how can I help [generate] equality where I live?”She helps run a food bank scheme before Everton games and organises fun runs from her community cafe to boost physical and mental health in one of the city’s more deprived areas,“All I can do is leave Liverpool in a better place than before I was here,” she says,McCann has come through great adversity in her personal life with an absent father and her mother having to overcome substance abuse when Molly was still a child,“It’s taken a hell of a lot of trauma therapy to understand all that and there are now days when you really see me at peace,” Molly says.

“But I’m human so there are also days when it’s that time in the month, I’m cutting weight, my businesses are on me, training is hard, and I say to my mum: ‘My head is spinning,’ I’m always ringing her because it’s painful to be in my head sometimes,She grounds me,“It’s like I was in the gym yesterday with my S&C [strength and conditioning] coach and she said: ‘It takes you 20 minutes to warm up, forget the world and then I see Molly McCann,’ I said: ‘That boxing ring is the only place where nothing else matters and I am free as a fucking bird.

’ No one else can go there with me.That’s my freedom and the price I have to pay.”