A former amateur boxing champion, McCann says she made the decision to switch to MMA after her particular boxing category was not included in the Olympic games.
“The highest level for me wouldn’t be an Olympic medal, so I thought what else can I do?” says the athlete.
Her subsequent decade-long career in MMA brought her considerable success.
She won 14 of her 22 fights, and is one of the most successful – and high-profile -women fighters in British MMA history.
But it has taken a toll.
“It’s four Olympic disciplines in one,” she says.
“So imagine how much you have to commit your life to being an Olympic athlete for one Olympic discipline, [then] imagine doing that for four.
“The negative side” she says, was “how heavy it is on the body over long periods of time”.
“There wasn’t a lot of women doing it when I was – so I was constantly training with people who were a little bit heavier than me, and it just took its toll on my body in the end.”