Fighters’ weight loss methods include saunas, fasting, exercise and apparently even cutting their hair.
Ahead of UFC Fight Night in Denver on Saturday, women’s flyweight competitor Tracy Cortez has chopped off a significant amount of her hair in order to make the 126-pound limit.
Cortez reportedly clocked in at 127 and 126.5 pounds at her first two weigh-ins, respectively, which led to a drastic weigh-in where she stood on the scales holding her hair in her hands and had to hold back tears.
“There’s no hesitation,” Cortez said. Later he said “I’m willing to do whatever it takes,” he told Sportsnet.
Cortez will put her official record of 11 wins, 1 loss and 0 draws to the test against former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas as part of the co-main event at Ball Arena.
The bout will mark Cortez’s first fight since defeating Jasmine Yasdavičius at UFC Noche in September 2023.
The 30-year-old is on an impressive 11-fight winning streak but is still searching for her first title shot and is ranked 11th in the women’s flyweight rankings. She joked that the fight with Namajunas was “so important I had to cut my hair.”
Meanwhile, Namajunas, ranked sixth in the world, is looking to return to the top at a heavier weight class after surrendering the strawweight title to Carla Esparza in May 2022.
The 32-year-old Namajunas was originally scheduled to fight No. 4 flyweight Maycee Barber, but They withdrew from the battle on 28 June.
Up-and-coming star Mike Marotte was also scheduled to play, but his opponent, Gilbert Urbina, was unable to attend.
Other bouts headlined at UFC’s first event in Denver since 2018 include the welterweight bout between Santiago Ponzinibbio and Muslim Salikhov and the lightweight bout between Drew Dober and Jean Silva.
The pay-per-view schedule includes UFC 304 in Manchester, England, on July 27, which will feature the returns of interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall and welterweight champion Leon Edwards.
