That Emotional Investment in Fighters:

That Emotional Investment in Fighters:

As a boxing fan in my early years while I followed the sport almost obsessively, there were a handful of fighters I followed more closely.

For me it was probably Frank Bruno and Herol Graham that I got more emotionally invested in.

Both suffered heartbreaking defeats that left their mark on me, Bruno in losing to Bonecrusher Smith and Tim Witherspoon and Graham suffering that brutal knockout to Julian Jackson stand out.

Now that I write about boxing and also MMA and be it interviewing fighters, seeing them live and seeing the endless social media footage that’s available in today’s world, brings it to another level.

This weekend at UFC Liverpool, brought back memories of those early days when Meatball Molly McCann was literally choked into unconsciousness.

McCann headlined the very first show I attended as a member of the press at Cage Warriors 90 in Liverpool in March, and she was backstage in London at CW92 in a few weeks later at my next show.

In London she spoke forcefully and passionately about wanting on that UFC Liverpool card. It seemed a desperate plea, it wasn’t, it was just a belief she should be on the card and a belief she deserved to be.

Just spending a few minutes in her company and hearing her passion I couldn’t fail to buy into her dream, her story.

Of course the call came, and she made her UFC debut against Gillian Robertson and despite a decent start, McCann came up short.

McCann you could see what being in the UFC meant to her, and the devastating manner of her defeat was plain for all to see. There is an emotional post fight interview with Caroline Pearce which is hard to watch, but tells you all you need to know about what the defeat means.

For me I was gutted for her, it’s that emotional investment all over again, sometimes it’s hard to be neutral, at the end of the day I am a fan. I found it hard to watch, even harder to stomach.

Hopefully it’s not the end in the UFC for McCann, the UFC are sometimes so brutal, one chance is sometimes all you get.

McCann knows what she needs to do, and personally I hope she gets another opportunity to show what she can do. Don’t count her out just yet.