Paddy Pimblett recently appeared on an episode of Pub Talk and discussed his teammate Molly McCann’s recent fight with Erin Blanchfield, where he had nothing but positive things to say about the elite grappler. Blanchfield submitted McCann in the very first round of their fight at UFC 281, putting an end to a three-fight winning streak that Pimblett’s partner in crime had put together. McCann and Pimblett train together at Next Generation MMA in Liverpool and they often managed to win when they fought together on the same card.
McCann is known for her striking ability whereas Erin Blanchfield is an EBI Champion and veteran BJJ black belt, making her an incredibly competitive grappler. When Pimblett spoke about the fight in retrospect, he was well aware of that fact:
“Her opponent, world-class. No one else wanted to fight her opponent. She is one of the best grapplers on the planet. No one else wanted to fight that girl. She’s an unbelievable grappler and that fight was always grappler versus striker. If Molly could keep it on the feet then she’d probably knock her out. If Blanchfield could get her down, she’d probably submit her and the latter happened, unfortunately.”
Pimblett also revealed that the fight almost didn’t go ahead due to some injuries that McCann suffered in training. Given that Blanchfield was unbeaten in three UFC fights and held a 9-1 professional MMA record overall, it was an incredibly tough fight to take and Pimblett was impressed with McCann’s determination to fight:
“Yeah, it was. A very hard watch. We train all the time together. I’ve watched the highs and lows throughout her career, and the highs and lows through that fight camp. We didn’t even know if she’d end up doing that fight four or five weeks out because she had a few little niggles, a few little injuries. She still got through it, and she still went into the fight, even though she wasn’t 100 percent.”
The full video of the interview with Paddy Pimblett where he discusses Molly McCann’s recent fight with elite grappler Erin Blanchfield was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Pub Talk:
