Standing at five-foot-nine
Fighting at 135 lbs (bantamweight)
31-years-old
Fighting out of Matamata, Wsikato
Training out of American Top Team
A pro record of 6-0
6 Submissions
Michelle Montague is a former IMMAF Lightweight World Champion, a two-time Kiwi Freestyle Wrestling Commonwealth Games competitor, and a former member of the Waikato Women’s Rugby Team. She’s also a main training partner of UFC bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison. She only has two career losses, both as an amateur to Sabrinna de Sousa, so no shame there. Since turning pro, she’s finished all six of her fights by RNC, mostly in PFL.
Montague will be making the move down to 135 for the first time in her career, which could either make or break her going forward. Her résumé suggests she’s a one-dimensional fighter, but while her striking isn’t elite, she’s far from a fish out of water. What she does well is throw in volume and combine her hands and feet effectively. She uses blitzes, attacks both sides, and mixes up her entries. At times, her head movement is lacking, but she will dip off the centerline and duck under punches when she needs to.
Her wrestling doesn’t always complement her grappling as well as you’d like. Entries aren’t perfectly timed, and she sometimes struggles with speed. That said, she does a solid job shooting for the legs, circling to the back, mat returning to the mat, or suplexing her opponent. It’s a weakness, but she’s still gotten every opponent she’s faced to the ground.
Montague is a force once the fight hits the mat. She moves quickly to dominant positions, takes the back, and locks in chokes. When she’s on top, she’s very difficult to dislodge, actively landing ground-and-pound, and when her opponent’s neck is exposed, her tight squeeze usually forces a tap. To properly assess her UFC career, we’ll have to see how she handles the bantamweight division first.
