New Zealand has further asserted itself as a serious threat in the fighting world, as Michelle Montague has made history as the first Kiwi female to join the UFC.
The 31-year-old, nicknamed ‘The Wild One’, hails from Matamata, but has dominated on the world stage, and she talked all about it to The Morning Rumble today.
Lucky for us, she chose The Rock as the first radio station to speak to about the "massive" announcement.
When asked how she achieved the top MMA promotion in the world, she said: “It has been ten years of good old-fashioned slog, tears, and working other jobs at the same time like everybody does.”
Competing in such a physical sport, she was honest about how “it’s been a long process”. She said she’s broken legs along the way, and to be fair, probably a lot more.
Montague also grew up playing rugby in Waikato, which she admitted “didn’t help” when it came to injuries.
Being a fighter requires just as much mental toughness as it does physical, and Montague spoke about having to trust “coaches, trust the process… just having faith the whole way through”.
Montague has had an amazing career so far: She was crowned Amateur Lightweight World Champ in 2019, wrestled at the Commonwealth Games, and is 6-0 in her professional MMA fighting career, at both lightweight and featherweight.
Oh yeah, all those six wins came by submission too. Not bad.
She is set to debut in Perth on the 28th September, but her opposition hasn’t been announced yet.
Having never fought in the weight class before, she’s looking forward to fighting at bantamweight (57-61 kgs) this time around.
“My fights on paper have not been that light,” she said. “But I can make it!”
Montague was open about her other fights being “a little porkier” because there was “no opportunity” for her at bantamweight, until the UFC presented itself.
She was elated about the history she’s made: “It’s massive… I had girls who I grew up watching in the sport, and I was like ‘Man, these girls are dogs’.”
Now, it seems surreal that people will watch her and think the same thing.
The 31-year-old spent some time at both Core MMA in Hamilton and City Kickboxing in Auckland, before shifting to Florida to settle with the ‘American Top Team’, where her teammate is UFC Bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison.
Living in Florida has its benefits, according to Montague, like “the amount of females who fight MMA professionally” at her gym.
It has its downside too, because she misses “all the family”, and seeing “people grow up… or pass away” while she’s on her journey is hard, but she knows she’s in the right place for her career.
Something else to keep her grounded in her Kiwi culture is the number of Kiwi fighters also in America.
Three weeks ago, Kai Kara-France had his fight in Vegas, and Montague spoke about attending and hanging out with the likes of Kiwi UFC superstars (and mates of the Rumble) Dan Hooker and Israel Adesanya.
She described them as “absolute GCs” and said it was “such good energy” being with them.
“Just being around your people, like blood on the same lamb… it sounds woozy and weird, but it’s actually bloody good.”
Montague was once a little girl looking up to female fighters, wondering how to get there, so she now has some advice for girls who are looking up to her.
“Compete as often as your body can, try not to listen to your head too much,” is her first piece of advice. “People in your gym will help take care of you and guide you to the right events.
"It’s competition that gets you that confidence, and it gives you direction where your strengths are.”
Her next piece of advice is: “Get overseas. Whether you’re a striker or a grappler or whatever it is, get overseas to get that exposure and see how the people on the other side of the world are doing it.”
Lastly, she opened her DMs to any girls who want to hit her up next time she’s in New Zealand, and “we’ll do a cool group session.”
We are always in ya corner, Michelle, and can’t wait to see you wreak havoc in the ring.
