UFC 228 will proceed with only one title fight on Saturday night.
UFC women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano has been removed from the UFC 228 pay-per-view card, which she was scheduled to co-headline. Her opponent, Valentina Shevchenko, will not remain on the card. ESPN first reported the news.
During the early weigh-ins Friday morning, Montano had been transported to a local hospital. At the time, the bout was in jeopardy but had yet to be officially cancelled. Montano was hospitalized “as a precautionary measure” due to “health concerns,” per a UFC statement.
Request for comments sent to both Montano and Shevchenko’s teams were not immediately returned Friday.
Montano hasn’t fought since her title win over Roxanne Modafferi last December, when she topped the current women’s flyweight contender by unanimous decision. That followed a successful stint on The Ultimate Fighter 26, which officially introduced the women’s flyweight division to the promotion last year.
This is the second time Shevchenko has had a title fight cancelled last minute in the last 14 months. In July 2017, women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes was forced out of the UFC 213 main event on fight day.
Shevchenko has long believed Montano has tried to avoid fighting her at all costs. On Thursday, the former women’s bantamweight title challenger told ESPN she wouldn’t be 100-percent confident Montano would make it to the fight until she was actually in the cage.
Shevchenko is coming off a decisive February win over Priscila Cachoeira.
UFC 228, which takes place at American Airlines Center in Dallas, will proceed with 13 bouts. In the main event, welterweight champion Tyron Woodley defends his belt for the fourth time against rising star Darren Till.
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