A second incident in as many weeks has Montana De La Rosa calling on the UFC and Venum to fix their women’s uniforms.
For the second week in a row, an errant breast on a UFC broadcast is making headlines.
During the UFC Vegas 69 main event, Jessica Andrade was taken down and submitted by Erin Blanchfield after her Venum sports top failed to keep her private parts under wraps.
“When she moved in, she put her shoulder just under my top and my breast completely slipped out,” Andrade said after the loss. “I lost focus and forgot to counter. All I could think of was my breast. When I used my hand to put my breast back in the top, that’s when she was able to take me down.”
One week later at UFC Vegas 70, Montana De La Rosa also experienced a near-exposure during her main card fight against Tatiana Suarez. Suarez shot in for a takedown against the fence, and in this case her shoulder almost pushed De La Rosa’s breast up and out of her sports top. Suarez would go on to win the fight via a second round guillotine choke (watch the finish here).
De La Rosa didn’t place blame for the loss on the incident, but she did say she hoped Venum and the UFC would do something to ensure female athletes don’t have to worry about their tops failing and exposing them on international television.
“This is definitely a wardrobe issue,” she wrote on Instagram. “Hopefully the UFC and Venum Women / Venum will fix this.”
Montana De La Rosa wants to see changes to the women’s UFC fight gear following a wardrobe mishap at last night’s #UFCVegas70 event.#UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/qwrd1mqxcA
— Women’s MMA Rankings (@WMMARankings) February 26, 2023
Venum became the official outfitting partner of the UFC back in 2021, replacing Reebok. Generally, everyone seems much happier with Venum. The designs are sleeker and the women’s tops look sturdier than the old Reebok design. But that hasn’t stopped there from being a few incidents over the past two years that point to the need for a slight redesign.
Women in the UFC have the option of two tops: a sports bra style top and a full rash guard. We wouldn’t be surprised if we see an uptick in the full rashguard top being worn by UFC athletes until the sports bra can handle a sport as engaging as MMA.