Tracy Cortez has a massive main event showdown with Rose Namajunas this weekend at UFC Denver and was going to do anything she needed to in order to get to the dance. This included chopping off her hair to successfully make weight during Friday’s official weigh ins (replay HERE).
While Cortez is stepping up on short notice to fill in for an injured Maycee Barber she was still expected to hit the 126-pound benchmark for her headliner against “Thug Rose.” Cortez has only missed weight once before in UFC, but didn’t want to repeat that leading up to the biggest opportunity of her young career.
Unlike some fighters who would step on the scale heavy, receive their financial penalty, and move on, Cortez did everything she could to successfully weigh in. Unfortunately for her, this meant cutting off some of her hair to make the contractual weight of 126 pounds. It likely wasn’t an easy decision for Cortez to make, but she opted to cut off a substantial amount of her hair to get the job done.
Fight fans eventually saw Cortez come out on stage and step on the scale for a final time. She was visibly upset and began to cry as she held her hair up and weighed in. Luckily, her efforts paid off and she cut enough weight to make her main event official.
Later Friday, video footage surfaced capturing the moment Cortez decided to cut her hair. Her team was in the back supporting her as she yelled at them to “f—king chop it.” Her ponytail was lopped off and the rest is history. Check it out below:
Here’s the moment Tracy Cortez decided to “f*cking chop it” and cut her hair to make weight for #UFCDenver (via Eddie Cha/@FightReady_MMA). pic.twitter.com/6S6Grgj8G6
— Nolan King (@mma_kings) July 12, 2024
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Denver fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN/ESPN+ main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Denver news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archives here and here. For the updated and finalized “Namajunas vs. Cortez” fight card and ESPN/ESPN+ line up click here.