Athletes
Shauna Bannon | Not Fazed By Pressure
After Injuries And Almost A Year Since Her Last Fight, Shauna Bannon Is Ready For Her Big Moment At UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Brady
Shauna Bannon remembers the Irish Revolution of 2014, when Conor McGregor famously declared that the Irish weren’t here to take part, but to take over. Nearly 11 years later, Tallaght’s Bannon is confident that another revolution is under way.
“You know what I really love about MMA in Ireland at the moment is that there's a lot more girls doing it and there's a lot more girls doing it at a higher level,” she said. “When I first started off, I struggled so bad to get fights, and there was nobody around. I had to go to the UK and I had to travel a good bit because there was no one in Ireland. Whereas now there's a lot of female athletes that are at a high level and could be in the UFC and following my footsteps, because prior to me it was only ever Aisling (Daly) and that was a 10-year gap.”
Daly had a three-fight run in the UFC from 2014 to 2015, but after that, nothing when it came to the ladies of the Emerald Isle competing in the Octagon. Enter Bannon, who followed up a decorated career as a kickboxer by migrating to mixed martial arts. “Mama B” turned pro in 2022, and five fights (and wins) later, she was in the UFC.
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Bannon lost that first UFC bout to Bruna Brasil in July of 2023, and a year later, she got a win over Alice Ardelean. This Saturday, she’s in London to face Puja Tomar. That’s quite a three-year whirlwind.
“I think this is only the start of my UFC career,” Bannon said. “Although in July, I'll be there two years, I don't really feel like I've went in and got a run. I feel like it's been a slow start. And I do believe sometimes everything happens for a reason. Maybe I wasn't ready. I was only a professional one year when I was in the UFC. So although I've had years and years of experience in martial arts, professional is different and the UFC is different again. I was in Invictapreviously, but the UFC is obviously a step up in competition, a step up in professionalism. It's a different stage and it's a different level. And maybe I needed that time to develop mentally and mature as a fighter, as well. And I really feel like this has happened and I feel like now is the official real start of my career in the UFC, and I'm super excited to get going.”
Adding to the excitement is the reality that she’s getting to fight early in the year, which gives her the chance to log a couple more trips to the Octagon in 2025, and when you consider that her first five pro fights took place within 12 months, getting one fight per year for the last two was not ideal, and something that she wasn’t used to.
“Activity is good for me,” Bannon said. “In kickboxing, you compete so often, there was a tournament every weekend if you wanted. So I grew up with that mentality of competing and go, go, go. And I loved it. I knew no different. So when I got to the UFC, I fought and then I lost. And then I was out of the cage for a full year. I was due to fight last March, and I had to get surgery on my knee that January, so I wasn't ready for March. And then I didn't fight until July. That was a whole year with no fighting. And it was so tough mentally because I was like, I'm where I want to be, I'm in the UFC, but I'm not doing what I want to because I want to be fighting.”
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Her knee had other ideas.
“I obviously wasn't fit to fight,” said Bannon. “I had to get surgery and I had to rehab and I had to be back to full strength before I got back in the Octagon. I felt like everything was just on pause and it was like a cloud over me. And then when I got my last win, I was like, here we go with the momentum again. So I'm just excited to get back in there and perform because I feel like I also haven't really got anywhere near my full potential in both my fights. I know I won my last fight and I'm delighted that I got the win, but it wasn't the best me in there. And I had a lot going on in the background in my personal life in that camp. Then, obviously, I was rehabbing the injury in the lead-up to it. And it turns out when I came back from that fight, I went to the PI and they tested my leg and they said that my right leg was actually 40% weaker than my left. So I hadn't actually recovered, either. I basically fought that fight with half a leg.”
Not bad for half a leg, but Bannon’s a fighter, and you know she’s going to show up. At least this weekend, she’s showing up to The O2 Arena with a clean bill of health and plenty of expectations. Remember that Irish Revolution 2.0? Bannon’s leading the charge for the ladies of the Irish MMA scene, and she’s proud to do so.
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No pressure.
“I think pressure is a privilege and I am where I want to be,” she said. “I've asked for this life. I love doing it. Being a professional athlete in MMA is a huge pressure. Being a professional athlete in the UFC is even more pressure. But I’m where I want to be in life. I get to live the life I want to live with my son and pursue a career in what I love and I'm super grateful for that.”
UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Brady took place live from O2 Arena in London, England on March 22, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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