“It’s about a promise I made to my mom at one part of my life,” he explained. “Because my mom, she doesn’t like this sport, and she always wanted me to go to university and stuff. I come from Venezuela. When you say in that type of country that, ‘I want to be a UFC fighter,’ it’s a crazy dream, you know? … At that moment, I started fighting internationally in Panama, and I’m doing my studies at university at the same time. And it’s a lot. I said to my mom, ‘Look mom, let me try. Let me try my best. If I don’t fight out of Venezuela before 2022, I’ll quit the sport and dedicate my life to my studies. But let me try.’
“I said, ‘I’m doing this with maybe 30-40 percent of my effort, because all the other people aren’t working or studying. I really want to focus 100 percent,’ and I promised my mom that, ‘Look, I’m gonna do my best. If I can’t, I quit. But let me try.’ And she said, ‘OK, let’s do it,’ and that’s when I started doing everything.”
WATCH: UFC 326 Embedded | Countdown
Now, Montes is ready to step into the Octagon with his mother’s blessing, though he admitted that winning her over to the sport is still very much a work-in-progress.
“She still hates the sport,” he laughed. “But you know what? Every time I fight, she feels better. Now she’s excited for the fight. My dad, when I fight, is amazing. He bought a TV maybe one week ago, just to watch my fight. The TV is bigger than the wall!”
