Why did Tracy Cortez cut her hair at the weigh-ins? Everything about what unfolded ahead of Rose Namajunas fight
On the morning of July 12 — the day before UFC Denver — all 24 competing fighters successfully weighed in on point. However, one-half of the main event needed additional assistance to meet her contracted limit.
As reporters on the scene would share on social media, Tracy Cortez weighed in slightly over the 126-pound flyweight limit on her first attempt to make the UFC Denver main event official. A couple of minutes later, the 30-year-old returned to the scale with visibly shorter hair and met her intended mark.
After making the weight with the help of the Rizz Pharma-sponsored privacy covering, Cortez held her cut-off hair in her hands for the media photos while getting visibly emotional. The concept of cutting off long hair as a quick fix to shed up to one pound has been done by others before but appeared to impact Cortez more than most.
Cortez shared a video of the moment she made the decision to cut off her hair backstage on Instagram after initially weighing in at 126.5 pounds, a half-pound over the flyweight non-title limit. With the successful weigh-in, her bout with Rose Namajunas will proceed as scheduled.
In the video, the flyweight can be heard telling a member of her team to "f****** chop it."
Tracy Cortez's ironic weigh-in statistic
Tracy Cortez has been on an inspiring run in the women's flyweight division but unfortunately, her career has become somewhat synonymous with her previous relationship with Brian Ortega.
With the two UFC fighters now bitter ex-partners, Cortez had a coincidental connection to 'T-City' by cutting off her hair to make weight at UFC Denver. In doing so, Verdict MMA pointed out that she became the first UFC main event fighter to cut their hair to make weight since Ortega chopped off his ponytail in 2020.
Unlike Tracy Cortez, Ortega cut his hair off before weighing in, likely knowing ahead of time the sacrifice had to be made to reach his weight limit. The potentially rough weight cut had no affect on his performance, as the former title challenger would go on to dominate Chan Sung Jung in the main event of UFC Fight Island 6.