{"id":235015,"date":"2025-07-03T15:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T15:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/235015\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T15:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T15:15:10","slug":"former-ufc-star-signs-with-eddie-hearns-promotion-to-pursue-boxing-career-after-retiring-from-mma-in-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/235015\/","title":{"rendered":"Former UFC star signs with Eddie Hearn’s promotion to pursue boxing career after retiring from MMA in March"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eddie Hearn\u2019s Matchroom Boxing have announced the signing of a new star who made their name inside the Octagon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hearn<\/a> has been an admirer of Dana White<\/a> and the UFC<\/a> for some time but now, one of the MMA leader\u2019s former fighters has joined his roster.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s set to be a lot of crossover between the UFC and the boxing world in the coming months with White promoting Canelo Alvarez vs Terrence Crawford<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As Hearn prepares to potentially work alongside or go up against White<\/a>, some breaking news has seen one fighter swap the Octagon for the ring.<\/p>\n

While plenty of former UFC stars, like Anderson Silva<\/a> and Nate Diaz<\/a>, have dipped their toes into boxing after retiring from MMA, this still came as a surprise.<\/p>\n

\"EddiePhoto by Mark Robinson\/Matchroom Boxing\/Getty ImagesMolly McCann signs with Eddie Hearn\u2019s Matchroom Boxing<\/p>\n

During a live episode of \u2018Small Talk\u2019 following the press conference for Jack Catterall vs Harlem Eubank, Eddie Hearn and Molly McCann<\/a> joined the show.<\/p>\n

Hearn went on to announce that McCann is now signed to Matchroom Boxing where she will pursue a new career after retiring from MMA earlier this year.<\/p>\n

McCann fought 14 times inside the Octagon after debuting in May of 2018, recording some incredible highlights over the years alongside her close friend and teammate, Paddy Pimblett<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018Meatball\u2019 retired this past March after losing back-to-back fights, leading to her sending an emotional goodbye to the fans inside the O2 Arena in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe official announcement [is] that boxing is next,\u201d Hearn announced. \u201cShe\u2019s officially signed with Matchroom Boxing. Molly McCann will compete now as a boxer, about time I\u2019d like to say as well. Former ABA champion, everyone knows her ability as a boxer. Obviously been a massive star within the UFC, built her profile globally as well and we\u2019re delighted to start the journey with her. <\/p>\n

\u201cDelighted she\u2019s chosen to sign with Matchroom, going to be fighting all around the world and there\u2019s gonna be some massive nights. I had the pleasure of watching her cage-side, or whatever you call it in the UFC, which the atmosphere, the energy, the fanbase of this woman is incredible. Great person, great fighter and now, putting the gloves on for real. The boxing journey is about to begin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Molly McCann claimed the UFC \u2018deserves more\u2019 in final MMA fight<\/p>\n

In March, Molly McCann suffered the 7th defeat of her UFC career after she was submitted by Alexia Thainara in the first round.<\/p>\n

McCann claimed in her retirement speech inside the Octagon that she would be walking away from the UFC because, after some difficult results, the promotion \u201cdeserved more\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight with that performance with someone on a week\u2019s notice, it\u2019s not good enough, I\u2019m not coming in here just for a payday off these, the UFC deserves more, I deserve more and you all deserve more.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo from this little girl from Norris Green, who\u2019s got to fight in these amazing arenas thank you so much, to the little girls at home look at me, look what I managed to do, just two hands and two elbows and I had a good go.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

McCann does have some amateur experience in boxing, having also played professional football for Liverpool until an injury ended this career path.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn\u2019s Matchroom Boxing have announced the signing of a new star who made their name inside the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,12434,4331,38542,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-235015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-eddie-hearn","10":"tag-matchroom-boxing","11":"tag-molly-mccann","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114789962697135150","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}