Preview: UFC Fight Night 224 ‘Aspinall vs. Tybura’

Women’s Flyweights

Molly McCann (13-5, 6-4 UFC) vs. Julija Stoliarenko (10-7-2, 1-5 UFC)

ODDS: McCann (-215), Stoliarenko (+185)

Assuming this fight happens, it is an impressive bit of business that McCann has worked her way up to featured status, even if she has taken a long road to get there. A successful scrapper on the regional scene, McCann’s debut was one of the bigger storylines heading into the UFC’s 2018 trip to her native Liverpool, which made the result all the more disappointing. Gillian Robertson took McCann down and outclassed her on the ground with little effort, eventually scoring a victory via rear-naked choke. From there, “Meatball” found her footing as an entertaining preliminary fighter, stringing together some wins and consistently giving her maximum effort, but once 2022 rolled around, the die seemed cast that she did not have the athletic gifts to ever make much of a relevant run. Instead, McCann was the consistent highlight of the UFC’s two trips to London during the calendar year, somehow uncorking a “Knockout of the Year” contender via spinning elbow against Luana Carolina, then following it up with a similar finish of Hannah Goldy a few months later. Erin Blanchfield may have snatched all of that momentum with an absolute mauling of the former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder in November, but McCann still seems relatively made as a recognizable name, hence this prominent placement. Stoliarenko has hung around the bottom of the UFC roster for a while as an armbar specialist with an ability to hang tough even if things go south, but the highest-profile moment of her career came before her slated 2021 fight against Julia Avila. Stoliarenko fainted on the scale while attempting to make 135 pounds. Given that Stoliarenko has moonlighted at featherweight and has never fought this low in her career, this weight cut seems ambitious to the point that most discussion seems to center on whether or not this fight actually happens. If Stoliarenko does make it to the cage in fine form, this is actually a fascinating fight given her theoretical strength advantage and McCann’s spotty record as a wrestler and grappler, but the assumption is that the weight cut will drain the Lithuanian past the point of effectiveness. The pick is McCann via second-round stoppage.

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Aspinall vs. Tybura
McCann vs. Stoliarenko
Wood vs. Fili
Muniz vs. Craig
Ziam vs. Herbert
Murphy vs. Culibao
The Prelims