Michelle Montague “Happy to Welcome” Shaquita Amador Woods to PFL
Michelle Montague tests skills with Shaquita Amador Woods at PFL Challenger Series on February 3rd.
Montague appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts to discuss her recent work at ATT, eyeing possible opportunities at both lightweight and featherweight, plus so much more. Excerpts from our chat are below.
Michelle Montague
Training out of American Top Team and getting localized PFL insights from Kayla Harrison
“Fantastic mentor for me. One of my absolute best friends down here. We get to see like all fades of each other’s energy and attitudes in and out of camp, in and out of training sessions. So that’s definitely to have a homebody in the gym. But then we’ve also got these other girls. Like Evelyn (Martins) is obviously fighting the same night as me. Her and her sister have been wicked training partners since I’ve got here day one. There’s some awesome girls coming in too to prep for their UFC fights. Having those bodies on the mat, it adds value to every session.”
The excitement from Montague surrounding PFL’s relatively recent efforts to make strides growing women’s featherweight
“It was so awesome when they brought out the 155, the lightweights. That doesn’t exist anywhere in these big promotions. Honestly because 99 percent of the girls can make featherweight. We could all make featherweight unless like a couple of the girls are six feet tall and that’s just not healthy for them to drop that much. But the majority can make 145. We all know like 145 is in Bellator, it’s in UFC. There are some wicked fighters across the board there.”
“So it makes sense for them to have this. An opportunity for other fighters that aren’t in those organizations to be able to get on that platform and fight at the weight that they can compete at. 155 is cool and probably of my like sixteen fights I’ve had, I would say half of them have been at lightweight. Whether that’s amateur or pro. Me personally, I know I can actually feel a little bit more athletic at 145.”
PFL Challenger Series
Montague’s thoughts on her next opponent, Shaquita Amador Woods
“She had a bout and finished the girl quite quickly. That was an amateur one. There’s not much to see of her anyway. Obviously she’s going to have power, she’s built like that. We’ve got the same reach but she is a great deal taller than me. So that’s like the only thing really, you know what I mean? She actually had a pro fight scheduled against one of the girls from last Challenger Series. But the opponent like pulled out the day of the fight.”
“So the poor thing got ready, made weight, and then the chick pulled out. I do feel for her in that aspect. So I know she’ll be keen to just go out there and just finally get like a pro fight under her belt. I’m happy to welcome her to that.”