Dana White Says Everyone Will Be Gunning For Nicco Montano

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Dana White spoke about the victory of inaugural UFC women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano. She won the belt at The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale with a win over Roxanne Modafferi. Here are highlights:

On Montano’s future: “It’s a difficult position for her to be in as the champion. Everyone’s gunning for her. She’s going to have to go work hard. The thing about her: She’s 4-2. I don’t remember if it was her or Sijara (Eubanks) that was picked last. She was the least favored to win the show. She’s the champ now. Everybody on earth is going to want to fight her. That’s part of being the champion. But being the promoter of it, I love it. I think it’s awesome. I think she’s a tough, gritty little girl, and I think everyone is going to be gunning for her.”

On the shallow roster: “There hasn’t been as much movement from (135) and (115) as I thought there would be. I bet there’s going to be a lot now, though. So we’ll see what happens.”

On Montano’s chances of keeping the gold: “She obviously has something special. She can dig deep when she wants to. She’s super awkward, she’s very strong that little girl. We’ll see what happens. Crazier things have happened. She could go from here on out and go on a run for the rest of her career and not lose. We’ll find out.”