Among the more unexpected information to emerge from the media event to reveal the undercard for Katie Taylor’s farewell fight at Croke Park was that the box-office multiple world champion is the cousin of former MMA star-turned boxer Molly McCann.
McCann will contest her fifth professional fight since switching combat sports as part of the bill which will pit Taylor against France’s undefeated Floran Pili in front of an anticipated crowd of 80,000 in Dublin on 5 September.
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Taylor will be bidding to become a three-time undisputed champion with the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO super-lightweight world titles on the line.
McCann is a former Cage Warriors flyweight champion and formerly competed in the women’s flyweight division of UFC.
In July 2025 it was announced that she had signed a deal with Matchroom Boxing and the now 36-year-old went on to win her debut bout at Windsor Park in Belfast.
Three further victories followed and she now prepares to take on Yorkshire’s Sylwia Doligala on what promises to be a historic and emotional night in the Irish capital.
“It was the best kept secret in combat sport because Katie doesn’t speak much and I didn’t want to look as if I was riding off her coat-tails,” McCann said of the family links in an interview with BBC Sport NI’s Thomas Kane.
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“You will have always seen me at the fights and supporting but it’s just for us, just for family.
“She means everything, 80,000 people will be unbelievable. It’s amazing what she’s done as a woman in sport but it’s the last one, so how sad is that. The second I’ve won I’ll be a blubbering mess to the end, it’s a real bittersweet moment for the sport.”
‘Last little send-off before I do great things’
A competitor with her own ambitions of success in the ring, McCann says her latest challenge represents another stepping stone in her development.
“Boxing can be like a game of chess and some things don’t transfer from MMA. It’s harder to land the shots in boxing. Every shot in MMA has to be 100% but you can’t do that in boxing or you’ll gas out.
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“If you watched my last four, every fight there has been such a vast evolution and me and my team and Eddie have said this is the last learning curve.
“We’ve got a fighter who has won a central area title in England, been a few 10-rounders, she’s more experienced on a winning record.
“This is my last little send-off before I go and do great things.”
McCann aims to impress on the big stage in front of the huge capacity crowd at Croke.
“I do rise to the occasion. The more people are there, the more I like to fight for the fans,” she said.
“I’m very fortunate, I think we can put that down to travelling the world with the UFC.
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She hopes another win will bring her closer to securing some belts of her own and ultimately a world crown.
“Someone like Katie, who is the best of us all, it took her something like 12 fights to get a world title fight because she was changing the landscape.
“I’m proud of where I am and how quick we have moved to get where we are but as many fights as I’m told to fight I will fight.
“Who gets to change career at 35 and find a career that actually was meant for them, so I wake up every day and thank God that’s me.”
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