Molly McCann is proud to be a positive influence.
The Liverpool mixed martial artist was inspired by watching female stars from her home city and now wants to be a role model for the next generation of aspiring sportswomen.
At the age of 29, and as the first English woman to win inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship octagon, she is doing so.
“Fighting for me is now bigger than winning a UFC belt,” said McCann.
“Fighting is to ensure the next generation of females all get to have a go at this and get to have it change their lives as much as it’s changed mine.”
McCann joins UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko and Scotland’s Joanne ‘JoJo’ Calderwood to tell BBC Sport about their journeys and why they want to encourage more females to take up MMA.
Having played for Liverpool FC Women and pursued a career in boxing before making it professional in MMA, McCann has experienced her share of sports.
The flyweight says she was turned away from boxing gyms the length and breadth of the country as a youngster, until Irish Olympic gold medallist Katie Taylor “paved the way for women to start being taken seriously”.
On the football pitch, McCann says she witnessed “fully grown men singing ‘sign on, sign on'”.
“I have never been turned away from an MMA gym,” added McCann. “I have always been encouraged and I think that comes form the mix of different disciplines – people are a lot more open-minded to women, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation.
“It all stems from Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the culture is ‘we are one’. The second you step on the mat you’re accepted with open arms.”
McCann became a world champion in Cage Warriors before moving to the UFC, where she bounced back from a debut loss to beat Brazil’s Priscila Cachoeira in London in March.
“It’s the discipline and respect I learned that has got me to where I am, not just in martial arts but as a human being,” she said.
“I try to give the best of me to someone else, it’s not just ‘I want to be a fighter’, it’s a lifestyle, bettering yourself.
“For a little girl, or any young person, if you can step on a mat every day and overcome your adversities then when you come to life it’s easy.”
