Former UFC flyweight champion Nicco Montaño was hoping to get into the Octagon for just the second time since claiming The Ultimate Fighter 26 with a win over Roxanne Modafferi in 2017. However, those plans would fall apart thanks to Montaño missing weight by seven pounds. That result lead to her scheduled bout with Wu Yanan being cancelled.
Montaño has taken to Instagram to explain what went wrong.
“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 [sic] metabolic system is not catching up with what efforts I’ve been putting in,” she wrote. “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,” continued Montaño . “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 loves 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.”
The cancelled fight with Wu is the latest in a long string of scheduled bouts that didn’t come to fruition for Montaño .
The first fight she saw cancelled in the UFC was not her fault. She was supposed to face Sjara Eubanks at the TUF finale, but Eubanks was hospitalized after a bad weight cut. That lead to Modafferi coming in to face Montaño for the promotion’s inaugural women’s flyweight title.
After Montaño won the belt she was booked to defend versus Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 228 in 2018. However, this time she was hospitalized on the eve of the fight due to a bad weight cut. Montaño would later be stripped of her title by the UFC.
A little under a year later she returned to face Julianna Peña at UFC on ESPN+ 13. She lost that bout by unanimous decision. She was supposed to face Sara McMann at this event, but McMann pulled out due to injury. Montaño’s not made it into the cage since then.
A bout with Macy Chiasson was called off in 2020 due to an injury to Montaño. A bout with Julia Avila was rescheduled first due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then due to Montaño testing positive for COVID-19. After the Avila fight was scheduled for a third time, in October 2020, Montaño withdrew for an undisclosed reason.
In February Montaño was pulled from a fight with Karol Rosa after she was not medically cleared to compete. That stemmed from Montaño still suffering the affects of a concussion she sustained in a car accident.
Montaño latest disappointment comes after she was featured in a documentary titled Warrior Spirit, which documents her brutal weight cut before the scrapped Shevchenko fight.
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