Molly McCann appeared to suffer a nasty arm injury – and what was potentially even a broken arm – as she was submitted by Julija Stoliarenko less than two minutes into the first round at UFC London. McCann instantly clutched her left arm and could be seen in obvious agony after being finished via an armbar that made her tap out.
McCann had been the favourite but Stoliarenko took her down with relative ease at The O2 Arena and despite the home hope fighting back to get on top, her opponent regained control to get into an armbar and secure the finish.
As McCann left the cage and walked past the media, she appeared to say sorry to fans while holding her damaged left arm still by her side.
Meatball slips to 13-6-0 after a second successive defeat after losing to Erin Blanchfield back in November. The scouser was also tapped out on that occasion too. Stoliarenko meanwhile now has 10 armbar wins in 20 fights.
The Brazilian Jui-Jitsu specialist said to TNT Sports after winning: “England should be proud of Molly. It was stylistically an uncomfortable fight for her to take. I always expect to get submissions. If you look at my record you can expect that I’ll finish it in the first round.
“I love the audience here and I love London so much. It’s so close to Lithuania and it’s my people here. I don’t care [who I fight next].”
McCann had been hoping to bounce back in London after her UFC 281 loss to Blanchfield. The Liverpudlian Everton fan had admitted that that result had even left her questioning the future of her career.
And this latest setback will be a crushing blow to her confidence while she will hope her injury is not too severe. The fight was the co-main event of the evening and Tom Aspinall cheered up the home crowd with a first-round TKO of Marcin Tybura, who failed to land a single strike and lasted just one minute and 13 seconds.
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