Valentina Shevchenko opened as a -550 favorite for her fight against Nicco Montaño at UFC 228, with Nicco Montaño being installed as a +360 underdog, making Montaño the largest champion underdog in UFC history. Over at 5Dimes, the line currently has Montaño as a +700 underdog, now the biggest champion underdog in combat sports history. Asked if she takes the line as disrespectful or considers it an advantage, Montaño explained why she views it more as the latter.
“It’s definitely an advantage,” Montaño said on a recent edition of “UFC Unfiltered. “The scenario is kind of a win-win for me. I’ve already made history. I’ve done a lot of things, especially opening up this new division. The other scenario is I beat Shevchenko, so it’s definitely a win-win for me. No stress on my shoulders.”
From the outside, it has appeared that the path to creating this fight was far from stress-free, with Montaño being involved in an exchange with ESPN reporter Ariel Helwani regarding the UFC’s alleged frustration with Montaño for not accepting the fight against Shevchenko sooner. But Nicco Montaño maintains that her relationship with Dana White is just fine:
“Dana’s always had my back,” Montaño said. “And it’s my understanding that he has a business to run. So he’s given me enough time, for sure, to do what I gotta do.”
Perhaps the biggest reason Shevchenko is such a massive favorite over the defending champion is because of her flyweight UFC debut, where she destroyed Priscilla Cachoeira on the mat for three rounds, thereby embroiling the referee who allowed the pummeling to continue for as long as it did, Mario Yamasaki, in post-match controversy. With a beating so bad that it cost the referee future jobs in the UFC, many foresee Nicco Montaño, who, champion or not, is another young fighter, suffering a similar fate. But to Montaño, Shevchenko’s performance was not much of a surprise:
“She did what I thought was expected,” Montaño answered when asked if Valentina exceeded expectations in the fight. “I don’t think a lot of people knew who Priscilla was before that fight, so nobody knew what she could bring to the table. But Valentina just kinda dominated, for sure.”
Will Nicco Montaño suffer a similar fate to Priscilla Cachoeira that reflects the current odds for the fight?
