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DALLAS – Ever since Valentina Shevchenko moved down from bantamweight to flyweight earlier this year, the consensus opinion has been that UFC champion Nicco Montano is simply holding the belt for her.

Their UFC 228 co-headliner on Saturday? Just a formality, they say. Which is in line with the oddsmakers making Montano a massive underdog heading into her first title defense.

“It’s always been that,” she said Wednesday following her open workout at American Airlines Center. “I don’t have anything to compare it to because I’ve always been the underdog. So, it’s just part of who I am in spirit.”

Montano won the inaugural UFC women’s flyweight title last year as a member of “The Ultimate Fighter 26” cast. She defeated veteran Roxanne Modafferi in the finale to claim the gold.

Montano enters UFC 228 as the champion but finds herself in the rare position, given her underdog status, of feeling no pressure. And that’s just good with her.

“I have nothing to prove and everything to gain,” Montano said. “I’m the champ, but I didn’t spend my whole life trying to get this one thing. I spent my whole life fighting to be the best person that I can be, to be the person that my little sister can look up to and actually aspire to be instead of some random girl floating around, making a living just being who they think they should be, as opposed to who they actually can be.”

To hear more from Montano, watch her full open workout scrum in the video above.

And for more on UFC 228, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.