UFC women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano will be stripped of her title after failing to weigh in Friday for her UFC 228 bout against Valentina Shevchenko, UFC president Dana White told ESPN.
Montano was transported to a hospital before the weigh-in due to “health concerns,” according to the UFC, and will not fight Saturday. Shevchenko also will not fight on the card.
The fight was supposed to co-headline UFC 228 at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
In a statement released Friday, the UFC said, “As a precautionary measure, UFC flyweight Nicco Montano was transported to a medical facility Friday morning due to health concerns.”
Montano (4-2) became UFC’s first female flyweight champion in December but has not defended her title yet due to health reasons. She has battled a foot injury and had her tonsils removed in 2018.
Shevchenko (15-3) has been waiting for a shot at the 125-pound title and was heavily favored to defeat Montano on Saturday. During the past two months, she repeatedly said she was not confident Montano would ultimately face her.
Shevchenko posted to Instagram on Friday, saying she believed Montano plotted to “escape from the fight the last minutes.”
UFC has not stated whether the fight will be rescheduled.
Information from ESPN’s Ariel Helwani was used in this report.