[UPDATE]
Nicco Montaño has now reportedly been cut from the UFC per MMA Fighting.
Nicco Montaño was the inaugural UFC flyweight champion, but despite being signed with the promotion for four years, she only has two UFC fights, mostly due to injuries and weight-cutting issues. The latter is what caused her to be stripped of the flyweight title in 2018 before ever making a title defense and what is the impetus behind her reported release after missing weight by seven pounds for last weekend’s UFC Vegas 33 event.
Montaño’s UFC record was 1-1, and she will exit the promotion at 32 years old.
[ORIGINAL STORY, PUBLISHED August 3, 2021, 9:00 PM]
Nicco Montaño has once again failed to step inside the Octagon and UFC President Dana White has taken notice.
Montaño was expected to take on Wu Yanan at UFC Vegas 33. That plan went awry when Montano missed weight by seven pounds. The bout was canceled.
Montaño has had just three fights in four years. This is not the first time Montaño has dealt with weight-cutting issues. She was stripped of the UFC Flyweight Title after failing to make a title defense against Valentina Shevchenko.
Speaking to UFC Arabia, White said it’s possible that Montaño just isn’t cut out for the MMA world (h/t MMAJunkie.com).
“I don’t know off the top of my head, but over three or four of her fights have been canceled,” White said.
“I think no matter what weight class you put her at, she seems to have a hard time making weight. This might not be the sport for her.”
After the scale fail, Montaño took to social media to issue the following statement.
“Hi all of my supporters. I wanted to give a PSA on what happened. I was dedicated through camp to this fight, training four hours a day, including my fasted 4-5 mile runs and unfortunately after years of cutting hard by metabolic system is not catching up with what efforts I’ve been putting in. So I’ve been eating less for my workout sessions, training up until I had to come to the quarantine bubble and had to start my cut pretty high. I have done this cut before but unfortunately it just didn’t work out this time around.
“I think the most important thing for me to do is focus on getting my weight down healthily. Believe me I didn’t want this to happen and did everything in my power to make sure it didn’t but sometimes life kicks you in the balls over and over and over. But I’m learning that it’s only making me stronger and more resilient for what’s to come. And I only hope that anyone going through a rough patch in their lives does what I do, pick yourself up and believe in yourself to get through the tough times because there’s gonna be plenty more but patience is key in becoming the best version you can be.”
