Olympic silver medalist and former UFC title challenger Sara McMann has signed with Bellator and will compete in its featherweight division.
The news of McMann’s signing was first reported by Ariel Helwani.
The 42-year-old won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame earlier this year. She began her career in MMA in 2011 and won her first seven fights including a decision victory against current WWE performer Shayna Baszler. After one fight in the UFC, she was thrust into a title fight against bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey with the fight announced immediately after Rousey’s second win against Miesha Tate. While the idea of two Olympic medalists fighting for a UFC belt sounded like a big deal, it was not a huge fight at the time and ended in lackluster fashion after a knee delivered to the body of McMann and Rousey won by TKO.
McMann never got to fight for another title in the UFC but was close after putting together a three-fight winning streak before a submission loss to rising contender Ketlen Vieira in 2017. McMann last fought in March, beating Karol Rosa by decision when her contract with the UFC ended. McMann will move up in weight and compete at 145 pounds.
McMann issued the following statement on Instagram:
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