Nicco Montaño has been released by the UF,C but she is not ready to hang up her gloves just yet.
Former UFC flyweight champion Nicco Montaño is no longer with the UFC. Montaño has had a tough time since entering the UFC, specifically with being inactive and missing weight on multiple occasions. Her latest weight miss came just a week ago when she was seven pounds off from making the bantamweight limit for her fight against Wu Yanan at UFC Vegas 33. This was the last straw, and Montaño was released by the promotion.
After her release, Montaño took to her personal Instagram account to make a statement and give some insight on what is next in her MMA career.
“Down but never out,” Montano wrote on her Instagram. “Seems to be the story of my career? but for better or for worse I’m in the thicc of it and MMA is how I started my personal growth and I will never give up on me ❤️ It has brought me the highest of highs and lowest of lows and if it ain’t that, am I really living?”
Montaño jumped onto the UFC scene as a member of The Ultimate Fighter Season 26 cast. She performed well on the show and even won the very first flyweight title. She defended her belt successfully against Roxanne Modafferi, but then it all went downhill. Montaño had a history of trouble with her weight cuts, stemming from her scheduled bout with Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 228.
Montaño was later stripped of her title and went on to be suspended for a banned substance in 2019 and being diagnosed with COVID-19 in 2020. All of this and more has kept her out of the cage.
Montaño is still relatively new to the sport, only having five professional bouts before her UFC debut and two since. She could find success in other organizations, such as Bellator or Invicta. Although she has not stated outright which path she is going to venture down, Montaño seems determined to continue fighting for now.
Where do you want to see Nicco Montaño end up fighting next?
