22 July 2023 , 21:53
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Molly McCann suffered her second defeat on the bounce as she was tapped out by Julija Stoliarenko in a huge upset at UFC London.
'Meatball' was fighting for the first time since her devastating loss to Erin Blanchfield in New York last November. The fight marked McCann's UFC pay-per-view debut, but it ended in disaster as she absorbed almost 100 strikes in less than four minutes before she was forced to tap out.
Stoliarenko, who came into the octagon with just one win in her past six fights, charged towards the Scouser as the bout got underway but it was McCann who clearly had the better striking of the two. Stoliarenko slipped under a jab from McCann and landed her first takedown of the fight, quickly taking her rival's back and searching for a choke.
McCann managed to reverse the position but she was still caught in Stoliarenko's guard as the Lithuanian threatened an armbar. McCann desperately tried to wriggle her way out of it, but her arm was hyperextended and she was forced to tap. It's the first time Stoliarenko has won a fight since last July whilst McCann is now without a win in a year.
"I expected that, if you look at my record you can expect a finish in the first round," Stoliarenko said. "I love the audience here, I love London so much. It's my f****ng home, it's so close to Lithuania. There are my people here for the first time in my career. I really want to say thanks to Molly for that fight, she is a f****ng warrior. Stylistically it was an uncomfortable fight for her but she took it."
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Elsewhere on the card, Nathaniel Wood overcame two knockdowns to win a hard-fought decision against Andre Fili. Paul Craig proved the doubters wrong by winning his middleweight debut against Andre Muniz. Mick Parkin won his UFC debut whilst Danny Roberts and Marc Diakiese were both stopped in their respective bouts.
Lerone Murphy came close to finishing Josh Culibao but went on to win a decision to keep his unbeaten record intact. The London crowd were furious when Daniel Marcos won a controversial split decision against savvy veteran Davey Grant. Chris Duncan picked up his second UFC win, but there was defeat for Irish prospect Shauna Bannon in her promotional debut.