UFC star Cory McKenna vying to be 'worthy' of historic title ahead of return

The 25-year-old strawweight star will be looking to bounce back from her recent defeat as she is set to return to the cage this weekend in Las Vegas

While strawweight star Cory McKenna is the first-ever Welsh woman in the UFC - and with that comes a lot of pressure.

The 25-year-old has been a breath of fresh air since signing with MMA's biggest promotion back in 2020, following her impressive stint on Dana White's Contender Series - defeating Vanessa Demopoulos. Since her victory over Demopoulos, McKenna has gone 3-2 in the organisation.

But with age and time on her side, it won't be long before she establishes herself as a real talent in the division reigned by Chinese great Zhang Weili. British MMA is the best it's been for a long time, with names like Paddy Pimblett, Tom Aspinall and Leon Edwards all taking the promotion by storm, and McKenna is yet another top sensation from the United Kingdom.

With the likes of Oban Elliott and Jack Shore representing men's MMA from Wales in the big league, McKenna is acting as the flag bearer for the nation when it comes to female mixed martial arts in the UFC. However, 'Poppins' insists it's only a matter of time before many local talent force their way into the promotion.

On the topic of being the first Welsh woman in the organisation, McKenna told Mirror Fighting: "Yeah, it's really cool, I know there's a lot of local talent up and coming. I got a few people on Instagram and stuff, and it's really cool to watch it and like I say, watch it grow, and I think it's going to be a lot bigger over the next few years. So I'm just working hard and trying to make sure I make everyone proud and be worthy of that title."

The Welsh star wholeheartedly believes that the strawweight division is one of the 'toughest' weight classes in women's MMA. While many are quick to map out their ambitions and timeframe for the illustrious UFC gold, McKenna remains humble and is taking it 'fight by fight' as she returns to the cage this weekend.

The 25-year-old sensation's showdown with Julia Polastri is one of the opening bouts this weekend, and she'll be looking to put on a real show and prove why she's one of the best in the world.

In Polastri, McKenna is fully aware that she's in for a tough night. After tasting victory on the Contender Series, the Brazilian was beaten by Josefine Knutsson on her full promotional debut. Nicknamed 'Psycho,' 'Poppins' remains unfazed and is ready to showcase the wide range of tools in her arsenal in Las Vegas.

On whether she feels slightly frightened by the Brazilian's nickname, McKenna revealed: "No, of course it doesn’t intimidate me! I've got the scariest fight name in the business. She's got to be worried about ‘Poppins’! It's good she's a tough opponent, like short notice fight for both of us, but yeah, I'm excited. She's a solid striker, she's displayed like solid grappling… I think it’s a good opportunity for me to to show the improvements that I've made since that last one. So yeah, I mean, I'm excited for the fight and like, I said, it's nice to be going against a tough girl because that gives me the opportunity to to display everything."

She added: "Honestly, in my opinion, the strawweight division is one of the toughest and most stacked divisions in women's MMA. I think there's so many hard fights, so many deserving girls, like there are girls outside of the top 15 and they're absolute killers. Especially after the last fight, but just in general, with my career, I'm only focused on what's ahead of me and, right now, that's Julia Polastri. I’m not really going to think you know four or five fights down the line because I don’t know what’s going to happen. All I know is that the thing that I can control is Saturday night and that's been my sole focus and everything that I'm working towards."

Cory "Poppins" McKenna takes on Julia Polastri at UFC NIGHT FIGHT: ROYVAL VS TAIRA on Saturday, October 12. To watch the fight please tune in to TNT Sports.TNT Sports is available through its streaming destination discovery+ and across all major TV platforms. See here for more information.