Source: Radio New Zealand
Kiwi Michelle Montague fights Luana Carolina of Brazil during UFC Fight Night at RAC Arena on 28 September 2025. Paul Kane
The ‘Wild One’ is back and plans a short but violent encore inside the cage.
Kiwi UFC fighter Michelle Montague is back for her second bout in the world’s biggest combat sports promotion.
She meets Brazil’s Mayra Bueno Silva at the Apex in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.
But Montague said it won’t be a long night.
“I see myself winning it in the first round because I don’t believe she can handle the pressure that I’m going to put on her. If I don’t finish her in the first round, she’ll be broken in the second mentally.”
Though supremely confident, Montague is not ignorant of the risks inside the cage and admits to having nerves during her first walk in December 2025.
“Anyone that said no is lying. The nerves come once you are backstage, you walk out, and you forget about the nerves for a second, then once you’re in the cage waiting for them to come in, it comes again, so they’re going to come again this time.”
Sporting a perfect 7-0 record, Montague is still coming to terms with becoming the first New Zealand woman to sign with the UFC.
Michelle Montague celebrates after defeating Abigail Montes at Madison Square Garden on 23 August 2023 in New York City. Cooper Neill/Getty Images
“I’m just soaking up every moment of it as I can, because they’re far and few between these moments, I feel confident, feel strong, feel fit, feel dialled in.”
The title of pioneer does not add any extra weight for Montague.
“No, no pressure. That statement will be true always, being the first female, but it’s now doing something with it, making a difference with it and finding out the best way to do that.
“The only pressures are the dumb ones I put on myself, but it is a beautiful responsibility.
“I feel like being able to put New Zealand or Matamata on a different stage and able to make our country proud is a very cool thing.”
Having qualified for the country’s Commonwealth Games wrestling team in 2018, injury prevented Montague from attending, but she said the art is still her bread and butter.
“I don’t know if it’s because I used to wrestle the calves on the farm or what, but grappling is probably always going to be what I favour, but it does feel good to break someone’s nose when legally allowed to.”
As well as a step up in competition, another change for Montague will be the eerily quiet atmosphere of the Apex.
“It’s not like I thrive in one or the other, but I think there’s more benefits to this. I don’t need a crowd to hype me up. I mean, being able to hear your coaches for me is a little more important than some guy yelling out, ‘smash her head’ from the bleachers.
“It’ll be more relatable to the feeling you have when you go into sparring in a small gym with a handful of people around in a small cage, and I like that.”
She said, regardless of the crowd size, she carries her country into the cage.
“I know that the kiwis and my family will have my back no matter what path my journey takes.”
That journey goes through Vegas on Sunday, and Montague is planning to walk out still undefeated.
“Yes, sir. You can bet your bottom dollar on that.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
