Nicco Montano Pulled From UFC 228, Changes Made To Card

MMA Junkie reports that UFC women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano has been pulled from her UFC 228 bout with Valentina Shevchenko. She was hospitalized this morning after a weight cut went wrong. Officials from the UFC and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation cancelled the fight. She never made it to the official weigh-ins at the host hotel in Dallas.

The UFC said in a statement: “As a precautionary measure, UFC flyweight Nicco Montano was transported to a medical facility Friday morning due to health concerns. The scheduled flyweight championship bout between Montano and Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 228 has been canceled.”

The event happens tomorrow at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. It airs on PPV after preliminary fights on FX and UFC fight Pass.

The website also reports that changes were made to the card in light of the cancellation. Now strawweights Jessica Andrade and Karolina Kowalkiewicz will be the co-main event, taking the slot from the title fight. A bantamweight bout between John Dodson and Jimmie Rivera was moved to the main card, and a welterweight fight between Geoff Neal and Frank Camacho was moved to the FX portion of the show. Here’s the full lineup:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Champ Tyron Woodley vs. Darren Till – for welterweight title
Jessica Andrade vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
Brandon Davis vs. Zabit Magomedsharipov
John Dodson vs. Jimmie Rivera
Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Niko Price

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX, 8 p.m. ET)
Carla Esparza vs. Tatiana Suarez
Cody Stamann vs. Aljamain Sterling
Frank Camacho vs. Geoff Neal
Charles Byrd vs. Darren Stewart

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:15 p.m. ET)
Diego Sanchez vs. Craig White
Jim Miller vs. Alex White
Irene Aldana vs. Lucie Pudilova
Ryan Benoit vs. Roberto Sanchez