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Desperate times called for desperate measures for UFC women’s flyweight star Tracy Cortez on Friday.
Cortez is scheduled to make her debut main event appearance on Saturday against former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas. But the 30-year-old initially missed the 126-pound weight limit for the fight.
That’s when she got creative. Cortez came back to the scale after cutting more weight and was still slightly over, so she brought out the scissors. Cortez had her coach cut off a huge chunk of her hair, which was just enough to allow her to make weight for the fight.
Tiki cutting Tracy Cortez's hair.pic.twitter.com/odLBBYNTUt
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) July 12, 2024
There is, however, a catch.
Doctor David Abbasi states that cutting six inches of hair likely only amounts to “about a tenth of an ounce of a pound.” So Cortez likely would have made weight without all the drama and with her hair still intact had she chosen to.
Rose Namajunas Didn’t Want To Fight Tracy Cortez
But the histrionics are nothing new for Cortez, who had a significant social media following.
She’s also filling in for Maycee Barber, who was originally scheduled to fight Namajunas before pulling out with an injury. Namajunas wasn’t overly happy with the change of plans.
“It’s just been a few interactions that I’ve had with her, or on social media a long time ago, just like silly stuff,” Namajunas said of Barber Wednesday on The MMA Hour. “She posted a picture of me with my training partners and X’d out all of their faces and then circled my face and was like, ‘I’m coming for you next.’ I’m just like, ‘OK.’
“She always tries to say that by beating my training partners, [she thinks], ‘I know that broke her.’ You don’t know what could break me, because there’s a lot more that has to break me. I don’t have anything personal against her, but the competitor inside of me, it’s like, yeah, I really wanted to show her what’s up.”
Barber will have to wait. But it appears Cortez is clearly ready to do whatever it takes when she steps into the cage with Namajunas.