UFC Fighter Tracy Cortez Cuts Hair To Make Weight For Fight Night In Denver

Great athletes do whatever it takes to compete. And for Tracy Cortez this weekend, that meant cutting off her luscious locks.

The UFC flyweight competitor missed her weight by just a half a pound at Friday's weigh-in. So she did what she had to do: She grabbed some scissors and told her team backstage to just "f*cking chop it." Cortez then returned minutes later with a clump of hair in her hand. This time, she made weight at 126 pounds.

Cortez and Rose Namajunas will now face off as planned in the main event of UFC's Fight Night card on Saturday in Denver. The event was originally supposed to feature Namajunas against Maycee Barber, but Cortez filled in after Barber withdrew in June due to multiple health issues. Namajunas said she was initially bummed about the switch, but now she's excited to take on Cortez.

"Definitely, fighting Maycee was super exciting at the time," Namajunas said. "I was a little disappointed to find out the news, but now that it’s Tracy, it’s just different. I’m just as excited.

"I went through that process of being like, ‘Oh, man,’ and then as soon as they were working on Tracy, it took me a second, but once I made that transition, it took me a day to process it, and it was like, ‘Alright, this is what we’re doing.’"

And it's a good thing Namajunas made weight — because she doesn't have any hair left to cut off.

Rose Namajunas and Tracy Cortez face off during the UFC weigh-in in Denver.

(Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Cortez has an 11-1 record since joining UFC in 2019, while Namajunas is 13-6 in 11 years as a professional.