Nicco Montano releases statement following USADA suspension, aims for Summer return

Yesterday, USADA announced that four fighters had recently accepted sixth-month suspensions for their positive testings due to ostarine usage. All of which were the result of tainted supplements. One of those fighters happened to be the inaugural UFC flyweight champion, Nicco Montano.

Montano has been out of action since she won the title in December 2017 dealing with a severe foot injury. Once she was finally ready to return in September 2018 to defend her title, things still didn’t go as planned as The Ultimate Fighter 26 winner would end up hospitalized during her weight cut. Thus, obviously, canceling her fight and then leading to her being stripped of her title.

Having been shelved since losing her title, we now know the reason why. After the USADA announcement, Montano had the following to say via her Instagram page.

“First and foremost, I would like to thank my friends, family, and all of my fans for their continued support during this difficult period in my life. As you all know, USADA was unable to locate the source of my contamination. I will continue to remain diligent in my responsibilities to USADA and the UFC. I would like to acknowledge Donna Marcolini and Jeff Novitzky with the UFC for their assistance in this process. This suspension has further inspired me to work even harder of achieving my goals in the UFC. I hope to make my return this summer.” Montano’s post read.

Among the other fighters who accepted their suspensions were the bantamweights, Sean O’Malley and Augusto Mendes, as well as middleweight’s Marvin Vettori. All of their suspensions have expired since the dates that they were retroactive to.

As for Montano’s, she has until May 15 for hers to expire which makes a Summer return all the more possible for the former champ.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/24/2019