Tracy Cortez had a choice: her hair or her paycheck?
Needing to lose half a pound before her UFC flyweight fight with Rose Namajunas, the 30-year-old didn’t hesitate to cut her long brown hair to make the 126-pound limit on Friday.
“I won’t hesitate,” Cortez told Sportsnet afterward. “I’m going to do whatever it takes.”
That did the trick, as she officially weighed in at 126 pounds on Friday. Cortez then posed for the cameras with her hair up in her hand.
Cortez and her new bob will face Namajunas in Saturday night’s main event in Denver. Namajunas was originally scheduled to fight Maycee Barber, but Barber pulled out due to health concerns.
Cortez poses on the scale during the UFC weigh-in at the Sheraton Downtown Denver Hotel
After getting her hair cut, Cortez posed for the cameras with her chopped locks in hand.
Opponents Rose Namajunas and Tracy Cortez face off during UFC weigh-in in Denver
Cortez stepped in on short notice to replace Maycee Barber and will fight in her first main event.
Asked why he found it so difficult to make weight, Cortez told Sportsnet: “On short notice… I had to do a little bit more.”
Cortez has an 11-1 record in her MMA career with 11 consecutive wins. However, Namajunas (12-6) is the favorite at -200.
Namajunas (12-6), a former strawweight champion, is looking to move up the contender rankings in the flyweight division. The 32-year-old is coming off a unanimous decision win over Amanda Ribas in March after losing in her divisional debut last fall.
While Cortez is riding an 11-fight win streak and enters as the No. 11 ranked flyweight contender, Namajunas is a big step up in competition for the Dana White Contender Series graduate.
Namajunas has a significant advantage in experience and is understandably the favorite at -200. 72 percent of the money wagered on the fight is backing her, while Cortez has attracted 48 percent of the total bets at +165.
The main event is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.
