Nicco Montano Releases Statement Following UFC on ESPN 28 Weight Miss

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Hours after missing weight for her now-canceled Ultimate Fighting Championship fight this weekend, bantamweight Nicco Montano wanted to clear the air.

Montano was set to face Yanan Wu at UFC on ESPN 28 on July 31 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, but the former flyweight champ hit the scales at 143 pounds, or seven above the division’s cap. Upon evaluation, the promotion and commission promptly pulled the bout from the card. Montano previously lost her 125-pound title ahead of UFC 228 in 2018, when she was hospitalized due to her weight cut and it was stripped from her.

Montano posted a statement on Instagram about what happened to cause this issue:

“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 [my] 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.”

Montano also thanked those involved in her camp, writing, “I also want to say thank you to everyone at the UFC [Performance Institute] and [Syndicate MMA] for believing in me and helping me get to this fight with more love and support than anyone could ask for. I truly felt the best I’ve ever felt going into this fight.”

Montano made her organizational debut in 2017, when she won the inaugural flyweight strap from the 26th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” by taking on replacement foe Roxanne Modafferi – her original opponent Sijara Eubanks fell ill due to her own weight cutting complications. After the aforementioned UFC 228 situation, Montano moved up to bantamweight and failed a drug test for ostarine.

After returning from suspension, Montano faced future UFC title challenger Julianna Pena and lost a decision in July 2019. Since then, she has been linked to six bouts against Macy Chiasson, Julia Avila, Karol Rosa and Wu. Five of those matches fell through due to Montano, including an injury, COVID-19, passport issues, a failed medical clearance and now the weight miss on Friday.