A Lifelong Dream
For the overwhelming majority who enter the world of professional prizefighting, the ultimate goal is to hear Bruce Buffer announce your name under the lights at the T-Mobile Arena or Madison Square Garden.
Winning a world title in any organisation is a sensational achievement, but to many the lure of the three letters and the prestige that comes with having set foot inside the Octagon can trump every other accomplishment the sport has to offer.
Former Invicta strawweight champion Danni McCormack made the difficult decision to gamble everything in an effort to fulfil her dream of facing the best female fighters in the world on the greatest stage of all.
The 34-year-old relinquished the Invicta belt that she had won in dramatic fashion by beating Valesca Machado back in March of 2023, and subsequently defended seven months later. Realising her career might be entering its twilight years, the Irish fighter came to a deal with the female-only promotion that saw her become a free agent.
A Long Shot
Her subsequent pleas for an opportunity under the UFC lights went unheard still, until a glimmer of hope emerged during the summer when she was offered a fight on the company’s Road to UFC event at the Apex.
McCormack moved up to 125 lbs. to take on Qihui Yan. The Chinese powerhouse was seen as hot favorite going into the fight given her impressive resume and her history of devastating knockouts.
McCormack, however, had other ideas, and brought the fight to her more experienced opponent. A chaotic three-round display of guts, determination and visceral violence saw the Mullingar native upset the bookmakers and walk away with one of the most impressive victories of her career.
The calls for McCormack to be signed to the UFC in the following days grew deafening, but now a couple of months removed from the fight, she is slowly coming to terms with the fact that the dream may be dead in the water.
In a recent interview with McCormack this week, while she attempted to maintain her usual positive demeanour, she revealed she had received some sad news from UFC headquarters. “Straight after the fight” she began, “Two days later, I think I had just done an interview with Sean Sheehan (of Sherdog) and then like a few hours later I heard that (UFC matchmaker) Mick Maynard had said to my management that they weren’t going to give me a contract, that I didn’t have a strong enough finishing record and I was too old.”
“He did comment that I had proved that I could have exciting fights but he thought that that was more (of a) one-off rather than something that I always do, which is a bit disappointing because I don’t feel like he actually watched my career if that’s what he says”.
The Bellator veteran, who is now riding a four-fight winning streak, seemed resigned to the fact that there is nothing more she can do to twist Maynard’s arm. “I got out of my (Invicta) contract” she said, “I moved up weight, I took the Road to UFC fight, I did everything in my power to make this happen but I have no control unfortunately. The only person that does is Mick”.
Just watched last flyweight female fight on DWCS. Im not in the business of shitting on others efforts but I beat both these girls easy, actually my RTU opponent would beat them too. If that’s the level to get a contract its a sin I got offered nothing @Mickmaynard2 #anyweight
— Danni “MAC” McCormack (@dannimccormack) September 11, 2024
What Next?
Having almost reached the top of the mountain only to have that door shut firmly in her face, McCormack admits she is at somewhat of a crossroads in her career and she briefly entertained the idea of hanging up her gloves.
“Going forward now there’s loads of options on the table” she said, “And I’m pretty sure (like 90 percent sure) I won’t retire now. There was definitely some time there a few weeks ago where I thought, ‘it’s time now to just hand (my notice) in now’ because why do I want to keep doing it? I proved that I’m the best strawweight outside of the UFC by beating the Invicta champion twice but I can’t get into the UFC, so I can’t prove I’m the best in the world. So what are other motivations to keep fighting?”
While McCormack may have had tunnel vision as she pursued an opportunity to perform on the biggest stage of all, she is now beginning to broaden her horizons and explore some other options that are available to her.
“At the moment my management is reaching out to The Ultimate Fighter producers because this year it’s time again for strawweights to come through (or even flyweights to come through) so my management has got a small 5 percent chance that they could get me into The Ultimate Fighter, but I honestly don’t think I would get in with a 9-2 record,” the Invicta champ stated. “I think they take people with less than six fights, especially women, so I don’t think that will happen.”
“Invicta want me back 100% and they said I’d go back as champion straight away. PFL have offered me both the US and the European deals, but for the US it wouldn’t be straight into the (million-dollar) tournament, they’d want to see me fight as a flyweight first and then slot into the tournament the following year. For Europe, I could go straight into the $100k tournament as a flyweight if I wanted to.”
Given that almost every promotion that matters is seemingly interested in her services, the question of if, financial prizes excluded, there’s one in particular that excites her the most, came up, to which she offered up an interesting response.
“I watch One Championship every Friday when it’s on with my husband because he’s big into Muay Thai and they’ve got the physically biggest belt that there is…it’s massive!,” she said. The Asian girls are crazy, they do mad (expletive deleted) over there, they do soccer kicks on the ground and they’ve awful fun fights.
“I do think it would be fun, someone like me, very European and disciplined and technically based to go over and fight some crazy Asians and have fun fights and come out with that big belt but I just don’t know if they would set me up correctly, if they’d give me the fights, if they’d tie me up (under a) contract and I’d end up retiring in two years because I hadn’t fought”.
Despite speaking openly about her battle with the idea of retirement, McCormack speaks like a fighter who is still driven by the excitement that competition brings.
“I just don’t feel like this year is the year” she responded. “And maybe I’m delusional and maybe people are saying, ‘she should just head off now into the sunset’ but I do think I have definitely another good two years in me. Hopefully I can go into it and get some accolades, get some cash and keep my health and keep my head along the way, and just keep pushing for more.
“How do you reach your full potential in life? I still have opportunities to push myself further. If I lose and it all comes crashing down, so what? I’m okay with myself. The UFC doesn’t want me, Mick Maynard doesn’t like me, but I like myself so I just need to keep going now. It will eventually come (crashing) down but for now I’m definitely motivated to keep at it”.
Watch the full interview below:
