Molly McCann hails Conor McGregor’s ‘poetic’ advice in helping her prepare for UFC 281 fight

Molly McCann has revealed that she has consulted UFC megastar Conor McGregor for advice on how to prepare for the biggest fight of her career amid renewed fame.

Despite her debut in the UFC in 2018, McCann’s status as one of the UK’s biggest martial arts stars was established thanks to her consecutive UFC London wins against Luana Carolina and Hannah Goldy earlier this year.

The July win over Goldy catapulted the Scouse striker to the UFC rankings, and McCann will face her toughest test yet in the Octagon when she faces 23-year-old prodigy Erin Blanchfield at UFC 281.

Molly McCann revealed she sought advice from Conor McGregor about coping with stardom in her fighting career

McCann will have her toughest Octagon test yet when she takes on Erin Blanchfield (left) at UFC 281

Struggling to juggle the various extracurricular obligations that come with martial arts stardom has hindered the careers of many promising fighters in the past, so McCann sought advice from McGregor on how to fully focus on the fight at hand.

“I sent him a message: ‘How do you deal with this? Because you can blow up and then you can blow up,” McCann told the press at the UFC 281 media day.

“I just couldn’t quite get how some people are with you.” (McGregor) was like, ‘When you’re in the gym, it’s just the gym. Don’t let anyone else in. Keep everyone out. Always remember it’s just fighting.

McGregor told McCann to keep people out of the gym when she’s working out

“You’re a cage warrior. We are. We are champions of the Cage Warriors.” He said crazy things about, “Valentina is getting a Mac spanking” and all these things.

‘It was so poetic, and it was so beautiful. My partner, Ellis, printed it and put it on a board at MSG. It’s in my front room.

“So every day when I’m having a hard time or feeling good, I don’t get ahead of myself, I get a big head and I walk around with ego. It’s to stay grounded and realize that I’m only here to win. The rest, the external factors mean f*** all.’

A win at UFC 281 would bring McCann closer to a fight with women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko

A win over Blanchfield would put McCann even closer to having a shot at reigning women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.

Shevchenko has won nine in a row in the 125lb weight class since descending from bantamweight in 2018 and looked largely dominant throughout.

McCann returns to the Octagon to face Blanchfield on the undercard of UFC 281 on Saturday, November 12 at Madison Square Garden.