Tracy Cortez has a massive main event showdown with Rose Namajunas this weekend at UFC Denver and was going to do anything she needed to in order to get to the dance. This included chopping off her hair to successfully make weight during Friday’s official weigh ins (replay HERE).
While Cortez is stepping up on short notice to fill in for an injured Maycee Barber she was still expected to hit the 126-pound benchmark for her headliner against “Thug Rose.” Cortez has only missed weight once before in UFC, but didn’t want to repeat that leading up to the biggest opportunity of her young career.
Cortez went above and beyond to successfully weigh in, unlike other fighters who would simply accept the financial penalty for being overweight. Regrettably, this required her to make a difficult choice and cut off a portion of her hair in order to meet the required weight of 126 pounds. Despite the challenge, Cortez decided to sacrifice a significant amount of her hair to fulfill the necessary requirement.
In the end, the spectators of the fight witnessed Cortez making her appearance on stage and stepping onto the scale for one last weigh-in. Clearly distressed, she couldn’t hold back her tears while lifting her hair and measuring her weight. Fortunately, all her hard work and determination paid off as she successfully shed enough pounds to officially participate in the main event.
On Friday, a video emerged showing the moment Cortez made the decision to trim her hair. With her team by her side, she passionately instructed them to swiftly cut it off. Her ponytail was snipped away, and the rest, as they say, is now a part of her story. Take a look at the video below.
Here’s the moment Tracy Cortez decided to “f*cking chop it” and cut her hair to make weight for #UFCDenver (via Eddie Cha/@FightReady_MMA). pic.twitter.com/6S6Grgj8G6
— Nolan King (@mma_kings) July 12, 2024
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FLYWEIGHT FIREWORKS! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will return to Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Sat., July 13, 2024, for the first time since the historic 25th anniversary event in 2018 with a meaningful (albeit short-notice) showdown between top-ranked women’s Flyweight contenders Rose Namajunas (No. 6) vs. Tracy Cortez (No. 11). In UFC Denver’s co-main event, a thrilling Lightweight bout sees Denver’s own, Drew Dober, lock horns with Jean Silva, who is coming off a blistering knockout over Charles Jourdain just a few weeks ago (watch it).
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MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Denver fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN/ESPN+ main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Denver news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archives here and here. For the updated and finalized “Namajunas vs. Cortez” fight card and ESPN/ESPN+ line up click here.
