Former UFC champion Nicco Montano has been dropped by the promotion after missing weight for a bantamweight fight with Wu Yanan last weekend.
Montano was once the top dog in the flyweight division, but moved up after being stripped of the title due to intense struggles in making the 125lb limit.
However, she lost her debut at bantamweight in 2019, and has missed out on six fights in the last two years due to a number of injuries, a Covid-19 diagnosis and multiple weight-cutting issues.
The most serious instance of Montano being unable to make the less than nine stone weight came in 2018 when she was hospitalised due to her cut for a title fight with Valentina Shevchenko.
The fight was cancelled and she was stripped of her title, opting to move up to bantamweight, but she still found it difficult to get down to 135lbs, and last week missed by seven pounds.
Dana White told the UFC Arabia YouTube channel that he is unsure if she should continue to fight given her repeated failed efforts to make fight weight.
“I don’t know off the top of my head, but over three or four of her fights have been canceled,” he said.
“I think no matter what weight class you put her at, she seems to have a hard time making weight - this might not be the sport for her.”
On Friday night at a film festival in Las Vegas, Montano will premiere a documentary showing her extreme weight cuts in brutal detail.
The film is entitled “Warrior Spirit” and is directed by Landon Dyksterhouse and will focus on the dangers of extreme weight cutting in the sport of MMA, particularly the UFC.
Montano isn't the only fighter who has struggled with making the extreme cuts necessary to fight in certain bouts before, with legendary featherweight champion Cris Cyborg famously struggling for her UFC debut.
The Brazilian, who would go on to win the featherweight title in the UFC and Bellator, fought Leslie Smith at a catchweight of 140 lbs at UFC 198 in 2016, and footage emerged of her brutal cut.
She managed to make the weight, but after one more fight at the cathweight, UFC bosses decided to create a 145 lb division for their female athletes.
Fighters will routinely cut 10-15 lbs on a fight week to make their designated weight on a Friday for the Saturday fight night, which is a particularly unhealthy practice.
Jorge Masvidal last year was offered a world title opportunity and a new contract to face Kamaru Usman on six days notice at UFC 251 in Abu Dhabi.
But he had to cut 20 lbs, which amounts to almost a stone-and-a-half within that time just to make sure the bout would go ahead, which led to one of the most gruelling weight cuts in history.
