Nicco
Montano is no longer part of the UFC roster following her
latest debacle on the scales.
The promotion released the former flyweight queen on the heels of
Montano missing weight by seven pounds for a scheduled clash with
Yanan
Wu at UFC on ESPN 28 this past weekend. Montano later
released a statement regarding her weight miss and the
subsequent cancellation of the bout.
“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,”
Montano wrote on Instagram.
“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.”
MMAFighting.com was first to report Montano’s release.
Over the course of her UFC tenure, Montano has only competed in two
of her 10 scheduled bouts, with three cancellations coming due to
weight-cutting issues. Most notably, Montano was forced to withdraw
from a flyweight title defense against Valentina
Shevchenko due to a bad weight cut. She was subsequently
stripped of her belt as a result.
Montano completed an improbable run throught “The Ultimate Fighter
26,” besting Lauren
Murphy, Montana
De La Rosa and Barb
Honchak on the reality show before outpointing Roxanne
Modafferi to claim the promotion’s inaugural female flyweight
crown at the “TUF 26” finale. Montano has competed only once since
then, losing to Julianna
Pena via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 155 in July
2019.