Sara McMann needed to make a few adjustments when she transitioned from wrestling to mixed martial arts.
Along with having to add striking and submissions to her repertoire, the unbeaten MMA prospect and 2004 Olympic wrestling silver medalist also needed to come to grips with a reality many wrestlers have struggled with in the past — the fact that wins and losses aren’t the only factor that determines the trajectory of a fighter’s career.
“I had to adapt to that as much as I had to adapt to striking and jiu-jitsu,” McMann admitted with a laugh late last week. “At first I was like, `Wait a minute — it’s not fair.’ It was shocking to me that it could be not fair because in wrestling, it doesn’t matter what you look like or how many people support you; none of that matters. You win, you’re advancing; you lose, you are not. Even if you’re the most popular person on the planet, you do not get a title shot.”
It’s a sentiment that has been shared innumerable times over the years, with wrestlers often leading the charge for the sporting side of mixed martial arts to hold greater sway than the entertainment aspect. Currently, that isn’t how things appear to work, and it gave McMann pause as she made the move from the mats to the cage.
“I definitely had to recalibrate my sense of fairness with how the MMA world kind of works. I still have it, and I still feel those feelings, but it’s a different game, and you can either accept it as it is and continue to do it or you say, `I don’t like this and I’m not going to do it anymore.’ I gave myself those options, and I was like, `Well right now, I’m still going to do it, even though I know that it’s unfair.’”
Saturday night in Newark, N.J., the unbeaten McMann will make her UFC debut, pairing with fellow newcomer Sheila Gaff as the third female tandem to set foot in the Octagon when they meet at UFC 159.
Watch McMann vs. Gaff as part of the UFC 159: Jones vs. Sonnen preliminary fights Saturday starting at 8 p.m. ET on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific.
Fresh off a weekend where Canadian Jordan Mein looked overwhelmed by the enormity of a major UFC event and Daniel Cormier confessed to experiencing UFC jitters, it would be reasonable to expect the debuting American to be battling some nerves at the moment, but stepping onto a big stage is old hat for the 32-year-old McMann.
She’s won medals at three world championships, and came home from Athens, Greece in 2004 with a silver medal draped around her neck, the first time an American female had made the podium in wrestling.
“I think this feels to me like my first couple World Championships,” offered McMann, who last fought in July 2012, when she earned a unanimous-decision victory over veteran Shayna Baszler. “World Championships are very important, and you really care about it — you want to do well — but it’s definitely a different feel going into the Olympics.
“From (taking part in) so many competitions, I pretty much have blinders on and I’m just doing the work I need to do. I don’t think about a lot of that stuff; it’s all very technical in my mind. A big thing that makes a difference is that I know what a truly bad day is. I hate to lose, but losing in a competition is not that bad of a day.
“What happens (if I lose)?” McMann asked rhetorically. “Well, I’m taking a longer route with a little detour on my way to being the top person in the world. I’ll probably take a cut in pay, but that’s it if you’re looking at it realistically. I look at Anderson Silva, GSP — they have losses on their record, so clearly that’s not the worst thing in the world.”
Make no mistake about it — McMann’s sights are set on climbing to the top of the women’s bantamweight rankings, but she intends to do it by stacking up victories and staying true to herself, even if that means it takes a little longer to reach the summit.
“I really am somebody that decides the person I’m going to be, and I don’t waver from that. I’m extremely aware that I’m making less money than I could if I would do other things, but I don’t want to do those things. I’m not going to compromise that. I’m not going to start doing things that I don’t think are right for me.
“And I’m not saying that it’s not right for anybody,” she continued. “For some people, being outrageous and saying bold things is their personality; they’re being true to who they are, but it wouldn’t be for me. If I did that, I would be selling out, so I’m against it, and I say I’m not going to do it.
“I’m banking on that just working hard and beating people, slowly going up the line beating higher-ranked people, I will just outright earn a title shot.”
Many people were caught off guard when the 10-4-1 Gaff was announced as the first opponent for the unbeaten McMann — some had eyed a matchup with fellow unbeaten fighter who also holds an Olympic medal, Ronda Rousey — but the rising star and potential title challenger believes the match-up was made with a specific idea in mind.
“I actually do think the reason they chose her is maybe she hasn’t been in as many high-level fights around the world, but they want to put on a show, and she’s the kind of girl that the UFC will want. She’s not somebody that has been around for a really long time and is going to go to a lay-and-pray decision.
“They want people who are going to go after it,” continued McMann, who wrestled at Lock Haven University, the same school that produced UFC veterans Jamie Varner, Tim Boetsch, and Charlie Brenneman. “My fight with Raquel Pa’aluhi definitely showed that if you want to scrap, that’s fine with me. If you’re going to throw with me, I’m going to stand there and throw with you.”
Each of the first two female fights in UFC history earned high marks from fans and critics alike, and McMann is confident that she and Gaff will keep the trend going when they step into the cage at the Prudential Center on Saturday.
“I think that it’s going to be really consistent with the other two fights. It’s going to be two girls that really want to win, and really want to show their skills to the highest of their abilities. That’s how both of the other fights have gone — with both people believing they’re the one that is going to get their hand raised.
“We’re going to go out and do everything we can to take it to the other person. They know this is going to be a war.”
