Defending champ Montano faces daunting odds
Flyweight says infection required lengthy hiatus
Women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano will finally put the UFC’S newest belt on the line Saturday night when she faces challenger Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 228 in Dallas.
It’s difficult to make a convincing case that she’ll retain it.
Shevchenko is a minus-2000 favorite over the champion at Westgate sports book.
“I can say for certain (Montano is) the biggest underdog of any defending champion in a UFC title fight,” Westgate sports book director John Murray said. “The only one comparable might be Matt Serra in the rematch against Georges St. Pierre, but it definitely wasn’t as big a number.”
Montano has faced criticism for failing to defend the belt since capturing the title by winning Season 26 of “The Ultimate Fighter” in December. Montano is adamant that her hiatus was far more about her health than fear of losing the belt.
“After I got off the show, I had to deal with a number of health issues,” she said on a conference call. “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. So everybody thought that I was just hanging out at home when I was literally like having a viral infection throughout my entire body, hindering me from spending more than two days a week at practice.”
Montano is fighting for far more than a gold belt.
The 29-year-old said she’s proud of having raised awareness of Navajo Nation people.
“I think I’ve been able to shine light onto where I’m from and kind of all our trials going on,” she said. “You know, we’re a Third World country within this country and we don’t get recognized as such, and we see a lot of people are kind of naïve when it comes to our cultures and traditions … I think that’s what’s most important in giving me strength and the confidence that I have.”
Montano attended a graduation ceremony at her old high school on the reservation and made it a point to not to talk to the students about her accomplishments. Rather, she discussed how she was raised in the
same place and under the same conditions as them.
“I just want them to know (that) whatever they want to do, they can do it,” she said. “It’s totally possible, not just thinking that they are limited because they live on the (reservation), because they don’t have running water, because they don’t have electricity, because they don’t have a vehicle to get to places.
“It’s not about labels. It’s about heart and will and sacrifices, and
I’ve made them all.”
Light heavyweights to clash in Vegas
Ilir Latifi will meet Corey Anderson in a matchup of light heavy-
weight contenders on the UFC 232 card Dec. 29 at T-mobile Arena.
UFC officials confirmed the bout over the weekend.
UFC 232 will be feature a women’s superfight between featherweight champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino and bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes.
Ortiz-liddell set
Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will fight at The Forum in Inglewood, California, on Nov. 24.
For those wondering, that’s not a flashback headline from 2006.
The archrivals and former UFC light heavyweight champions agreed this year to a bout on a Golden Boy Promotions mixed martial arts card, and now the date has been set.
Liddell knocked out Ortiz in each of their first two meetings, in 2004 and 2006. The 48-year-old dropped five of his next six fights and retired in 2010.
Ortiz, 43, has competed sporadically as he has battled injuries over the last few years. He had lost four of his previous six fights before scoring a win over Chael Sonnen in January 2017.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@ reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @Adamhilllvrj on Twitter.