Nicco Montano was the UFC women’s flyweight champion until this weekend. Now stripped of her title, the talented mixed martial artist has come forward with a few words.
Nicco Montano was initially set to face off against Valentina Shevchenko in the co-main event of UFC 228 on Sept. 8. On just one day’s notice, Montano was rushed to the hospital for kidney issues during her weight cut.
The fight was cancelled and Montano was consequently stripped of her title. Speaking on The MMA Hour, Nicco Montano has since revealed that she was never notified by the UFC of the decision. Rather, Montano only realized she was stripped of her title after reading a social media post on the matter.
“I was running through Instagram and I saw an interview with Dana White saying the title has been stripped. I was getting out of the hospital and I was like, ‘Alrighty then.’”
“It was definitely pretty sad, it was disheartening. I didn’t want to have anything to do with the UFC for a bit after. My short-tempered self was like, eff this. You just almost died for a company that doesn’t even call you to make sure you’ve alive. Personally, it was kind of just like, well screw you.
“On the business level, if I could see it from a different perspective, I can see what they have to do — what they feel like they have to do. But just the inconsistencies with a bunch of things like this is still pretty disheartening in terms of what’s gonna happen with my career. Am I gonna want to stay in the UFC? I kind of want to stay in the UFC just to fight Valentina eventually. But just like with anything else, what else is the motivation? What else is the motivator?”
