One week from tonight, Nicco Montano will defend her flyweight championship against Valentina Shevchenko at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas Texas at UFC 228. Shevchenko has expressed doubt as to whether or not Montano will actually show up for the fight, attributing her doubt to the long delay in getting the fight signed. Montano, though, says fear was never the issue, only her health (Via MMAjunkie):
“My health was my main issue,” Montano told reporters on Thursday’s UFC 228 media call. “After I got off the ‘TUF’ show, I had to deal with a number of health issues. After my fight with (Roxanne Modafferi), I was in a boot dealing with a chronic bacterial infection, and that’s when Valentina chose to call me out. Everybody thought I was just hanging out at home when I was literally having a viral infection throughout my entire body hindering me from spending more than two days a week at practice.”
As soon as the fight was made and lines were released, it was revealed that Nicco Montano was a major underdog. In fact, she is currently a whopping +800 underdog according to 5Dimes, which Shevchenko being installed as a monstrous -1250 favorite, which is unprecedent not only in the history of the UFC, but in all of combat sports for a champion to be such a massive underdog. In spite of the odds being stacked so highly against her, however, Montano insists that she has nothing to prove:
“I’ve already proven that (I’m a champion),” Montano said. “I feel like I’ve already proven that. With this fight against Shevchenko, it’s just going to show other people that, and the true people that are inspired by me, that no matter what the odds are, that you can still come out successful and victorious.”
Do you agree that Nicco Montano has nothing to lose headed into her first title defense against Valentina Shevchenko?
