Nicco Montano will once again miss an opportunity to return to action tomorrow night (Sat., July 31, 2021) at UFC Vegas 33 live on ESPN/ESPN+ from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nev., as the former UFC women’s flyweight champion missed weight by a massive seven pounds for her matchup with Wu Yanan. The bout has since been removed from this weekend’s card.
This is not the first time Montano has failed to make it to fight night. Since her last trip to the Octagon, which came in the form of a decision loss to Julianna Pena back in July 2019, Montano has pulled out of fights six different times. Whether due to injury, COVID-19 protocol, travel restrictions, or failed weight cuts, Montano has struggled to keep the train on the track over the past two years.
The former UFC women’s flyweight champion took to social media after this most recent withdrawal to explain what went wrong.
“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,” wrote Montano via Instagram. “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 loves 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 issued the following message to her support team:
“I also want to say thank you to everyone at the UFC P.I. and Syndicate 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.”
It’s hard to imagine Montano ever competed as a flyweight considering she just came in seven pounds overweight for a bantamweight fight. Fans were hoping she could return to action at 135 pounds and put her skills to use in a division eager for new contenders. Unfortunately, Montano couldn’t keep her weight down and once again cost herself a UFC appearance.
For complete UFC Vegas 33 fight card lineup and start times click HERE.