COACH CATCHES COVID; MONTAÑO CAN’T FIGHT
Drama follows Perry, formerly (and briefly) at Jackson-Wink
Nicco Montaño can’t catch a break, but at least she hasn’t caught COVID-19. Her coach, however, was not so lucky. And as a result, according to multiple online reports, Montaño’s rematch with Julia Avila has been postponed.
Montaño (4-3), a former Albuquerque resident who now lives and trains in Las Vegas, Nevada, was scheduled to fight Avila (8-1) on an Aug. 8 UFC card. But the fight has been rescheduled for Sept. 5 because John Wood, Montaño’s coach at Syndicate MMA, tested positive for COVID-19 in advance of an LFA card in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Friday.
Little has gone right for Montaño since 2017, when she became the UFC’s inaugural women’s flyweight champion by beating Roxanne Modafferi in the Ultimate Fighter 26 finale.
En route to that title, Montaño suffered a broken foot. While recovering, she underwent a tonsillectomy and adenoid surgery.
A day before what was to have been her first title defense against Valentina Shevchenko in September 2018, Montaño had to be hospitalized because of dehydration as a result of a failed weight cut. The UFC stripped her of the title.
Montaño then served a six-month suspension levied by the United States Anti-Drug Agency after a positive test for the banned substance Ostarine. USADA acknowledge her ingestion of Ostarine was unintentional and the result of taking a tainted supplement.
Finally, last August, Montaño had her first fight since winning the title — losing by unanimous decision to veteran Julianna Pena.
In February, Montaño was scheduled to face Macy Chiasson on the UFC Fight Night card at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho — but was forced to withdraw after suffering an MCL injury in training. And now this.
Montaño and Avila fought on a minor-league circuit in January 2017 in Oklahoma City, Avila’s hometown. Avila won by unanimous decision.
Montaño, a Native American, grew up in eastern Arizona. In Albuquerque, she trained at FIT-NHB and Jackson’s Acoma.
PLATINUM REVISITED: UFC welterweight Mike Perry made the wrong kind of news last week when he knocked a man unconscious at a bar in Lubbock, Texas. According to a police report, eyewitnesses said Perry struck two other people during the altercation and was heard to utter racial slurs.
Perry, nicknamed “Platinum,” trained briefly at Albuquerque’s Jackson-Wink MMA in 2018. He was not disruptive during his stay, according to sources, but got caught up in a war of words between Jackson-Wink co-founder Mike Winkeljohn and former J-W fighter Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
Winkeljohn had opted to work Perry’s corner for a fight between the J-W newcomer and Cerrone, one of the gym’s cornerstone fighters — angering Cerrone and prompting him to leave Jackson-Wink.
Perry lost to Cerrone by firstround submission (arm bar) in November 2018. It was his second and last fight under the JacksonWink banner, having defeated Paul Felder by split decision the previous July.
Before Perry’s most recent fight, a victory over Mickey Gall by unanimous decision on June 27, Perry said he believed the distraction created by the Winkeljohn-Cerrone feud affected his performance in the loss to “Cowboy.”
His relationship with JacksonWink was a bad fit, he said, and he decided to leave after the loss to Cerrone.
Since the incident in Lubbock, which is likely to produce criminal charges, Perry has said he has abused alcohol and will seek substance and behavioral counseling.
The UFC has said Perry will not fight again until it is satisfied he’s made the necessary changes.
BARE KNUCKLES: Albuquerque’s Isaac Vallie-Flagg is scheduled to face Luis Palomino on July 24 in Oxford, Mississippi, in the main event of a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship card.
Vallie-Flagg is 3-0 as a bare-knuckles fighter. The former UFC fighter retired from MMA in 2016 with a 16-7-1 record.