Nicco Montano’s start with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has been a bit rough to say the least. After winning the inaugural women’s Flyweight title by defeating Roxanne Modafferi at the Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Finale in late 2017, she hasn’t been seen from since.
Scheduled to defend her strap for the first time against Valentina Shevchenko nine months later at UFC 228, Montano was ultimately bounced from the event due to weight cutting struggles. The cancellation of the fight resulted in a back-and-forth between Nicco and “Bullet,” and also drew the ire of other UFC champions such as this one.
Shortly thereafter, UFC stripped Nicco of her belt due to inactivity.
And just yesterday, it was revealed that Montano had been on the shelf due to a failed drug test since November of 2018, which resulted in a light suspension of six months due to the adverse finding coming by way of contaminated supplement.
With everything soon-to-be behind her, Nicco took to Instagram to discuss her brush with USADA as well as her eventual return.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my friends, family, and all of my fans for their continued support during this difficult period in my life. As you all know, USADA was unable to locate the source of my contamination. I will continue to remain diligent in my responsibilities to USADA and the UFC. I would like to acknowledge Donna Marcolini and Jeff Novitzky with the UFC for their assistance in this process. This suspension has further inspired me to work even harder of achieving my goals in the UFC. I hope to make my return this summer.
Montano is eligible to return this May, which would mean she will have been on the sidelines for almost a year and a half if she eventually does return at that time.
In her absence, Valentina Shevchenko won the division title by defeating Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231, and is set to make her first title defense against Jessica Eye at UFC 238 on June 8.
Care to offer up a potential opponent for Nicco’s first fight back?