UFC 299 fighter gets emotional while addressing struggles with "fertility treatments," sees fight as temporary escape

UFC 299 is set to take place this weekend, with many fans suggesting that the card may be more stacked than the highly-anticipated UFC 300. Katlyn Cerminara, formerly known as Katlyn Chookagian, is set to return to the octagon for the first time in nearly a year and a half when she faces Maycee Barber on the preliminary card.

The No.4-ranked women's flyweight recently opened up on her troubles during her time away from the octagon. Speaking at the UFC 299 media day, 'Blonde Fighter' stated:

"For the past year, I've been going through fertility treatments and it's been a long year. That's kind of why I thought I was just going to be taking off from fighting for a little bit longer. But for the last year, I went through three, four rounds of IVF, and I had two miscarriages. It's been a tough year, but I wanted to take a break from that, not just mentally, but physically. Going through fertility is so hard."

The 35-year-old continued:

"It's so hard that I'm taking a fight to take a mental and physical break from fertility treatments. Because this is way, way easier than dealing with that... The amount of mental and physical strain that you put on yourself, doing four-to-eight hormone injections a day, back-to-back. It's not just the mental load, but the physical load. In the summer, after I had my second miscarriage, I got up to 170 pounds from all the hormones and everything."

Check out Katlyn Cerminara's comments on her struggles with fertility treatments below:

Cerminara noted that she had to reset her body to get back into fight shape. She last competed at UFC 280 in October 2022, where she was defeated by Manon Fiorot via unanimous decision. The former missed weight by 1.5 pounds as she weighed in at 127.5 pounds before the fight.

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Dustin Poirier reveals why he is fighting at UFC 299 and not UFC 300

Dustin Poirier, who is one of the biggest stars in mixed martial arts, had initially angled to compete at UFC 300. Despite this, 'The Diamond' will make his return to the octagon against Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299 this weekend.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, the No.3-ranked lightweight revealed why he is not competing on the historic card, stating:

"They offered me this fight for 300. I was talking with Hunter [Campbell] and we were maybe the opening of the pay-per-view, maybe the second fight of the pay-per-view and then 299, we started talking about and to be the co-main event, I'm like, that's a much bigger slot, it's close to my training camp, it's close to home... I wanted to be part of 300. This just made more sense, I think."

Check out Dustin Poirier's comments on fighting at UFC 300 below (00:51):

Poirier noted that the decision to make his return at UFC 299 was ultimately his. When asked which card he believes is better, 'The Diamond' acknowledged that this weekend's card is stacked. However, he was unable to provide a definitive answer as UFC 300 did not have a main event at the time.