Valentina Shevchenko and former UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Nicco Montano were supposed to meet for the gold at UFC 228, but Montano pulled out of the fight due to health concerns in line with the weigh-in.
Montano would issue a statement after the event to explain why she pulled out of the fight, but Shevchenko is simply laughing at what the former champion has claimed.
“It makes me laugh so hard,” Shevchenko said on The MMA Hour. “It’s the most funny post I’ve ever heard in all my life. Now she has all the time to speak, so now she can post everything that she wants, everything that she wants to create, like to invent everything, but her actions show the same.”
There would be repercussions for Montano for pulling out of the fight, as the promotion would strip her of the women’s flyweight title.
The former champion claimed in her statement that she was at 144 pounds a few days before the event (with her bout being contested at 125 pounds) and Shevchenko says it was Montano’s fault that the weight cut went wrong.
“She had enough time to prepare for the fight. She was the only one who was responsible for the weight cut,” Shevchenko said. “She knows her body, how it reacts, and she has to be able to make it earlier, to start her weight cut. Not coming for the fight week 20 pounds over.”
Shevchenko is going to be one of two fighters to compete for the vacant gold later this year, while an opponent has yet to be named.
