Ailin Perez isn’t making many friends on the UFC roster.
The latest target of Perez’s ire is flyweight contender Tracy Cortez, who narrowly avoided missing weight for her main event bout against Rose Namajunas on Saturday at UFC Denver. Cortez initially weighed in a half-pound over the limit Friday morning, but returned later with a noticeable length of hair having been cut off so she could beat the scale.
This is a pivotal bout for Cortez, who stepped in on short notice as a replacement for Maycee Barber. Cortez is undefeated in the UFC, and Namajunas, a two-time strawweight champion, is by far her most well-known opponent to date.
Perez was in disbelief at Cortez’s near-miss and she let her thoughts be known in an Instagram Story.
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@ailu.perez.ufc, Instagram
“Wow [Cortez] you really had to cut your hair to make weight,” Perez wrote. “You were gifted an amazing opportunity to be a main event versus a former UFC champ and you barely made it. LOL. What a waste of an opportunity, you are showing your lack of preparation for a moment so big.”
Cortez has had trouble with making weight before, having come in a half-pound over the limit for a fight with Justine Kish in April 2021. The 30-year-old’s success has been slowed by inactivity as she has fought just once per calendar year dating back to 2020.
Perez, currently a competitor in the UFC’s 135-pound division, is developing a reputation for feuding with other women on the roster. She threatened to sue Joselyne Edwards after the two were involved in a physical altercation at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas in this past November — Perez defeated Edwards via unanimous decision at UFC 302 the following June — and has also attracted the attention of bantamweight star Kayla Harrison.
At the UFC Hall of Fame ceremony in June, Harrison said she’d be open to fighting Perez, referring to her as “the twerker” for her choice of in-cage celebration.
Perez’s next fight is expected to be against Darya Zheleznyakova at UFC Paris on Sept. 28.
