Nicco Montano on 7-pound weight miss, UFC on ESPN 28 cancellation: I 'did everything in my power'
Former women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano’s career struggles continued at the UFC on ESPN 28 official weigh-ins Friday morning.
Montano, set to make her second UFC appearance at bantamweight, weighed in seven pounds over the 136-pound limit at 143. While she stood on the scale, Montano looked physically out of sorts.
Because of the massive miss, Montano’s fight with Wu Yanan was canceled. Montano later released a lengthy statement on Instagram explaining what happened.
“I have done this cut before, but unfortunately it just didn’t work out this time around,” Montano said, in part. “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.”
Montano (4-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) hasn’t competed since July 13, 2019 when she lost a unanimous decision to Julianna Pena in her return to bantamweight.
Montano has a history of fight cancellations. After becoming the UFC’s inaugural women’s 125-pound champ through Season 26 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Montano never got to defend her title. She was stripped of the belt after she was hospitalized because of a bad weight cut heading into a scheduled UFC 228 bout with Valentina Shevchenko. Montano recently teased a trailer on a film documenting her experience before UFC 228.
UFC on ESPN 28 marked the fourth fight cancellation since the loss to Pena in July 2019. The reasons for the other three cancellations were injury, COVID-19 and undisclosed.
Montano vs. Yanan wasn’t the only fight removed from UFC on ESPN 28. The bantamweight bout between Trevin Jones and Ronnie Lawrence also was canceled after Lawrence was unable to weigh in due to health concerns.
With the cancellations, the UFC on ESPN 28 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 9 p.m. ET)
- Uriah Hall (185.5) vs. Sean Strickland (185)
- Kyung Ho Kang (136) vs. Rani Yahya (136)
- Cheyanne Buys (116) vs. Gloria de Paula (115.5)
- Jared Gooden (171) vs. Niklas Stolze (170.5)
- Zarrukh Adashev (125.5) vs. Ryan Benoit (126)
- Bryan Barberena (170.5) vs. Jason Witt (170.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+)
- Collin Anglin (146) vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan (145.5)
- Rafa Garcia (154) vs. Chris Gruetzemacher (156)
- Danny Chavez (145.5) vs. Kai Kamaka (144.5)
- Jinh Yu Frey (115.5) vs. Ashley Yoder (116)
- Orion Cosce (170.5) vs. Phil Rowe (173.5)