'I'm on the express train to a world title'

Molly McCann, Britain's most successful female UFC fighter, on switching to boxing and staying true to herself

- Donald McRae

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.”