WATCH | Katlyn Chookagian gets emotional at UFC 299 media day revealing she had two miscarriages during time off

Katlyn Chookagian has had a rough time off, which is why she’s excited to be returning to the Octagon at UFC 299.

Chookagian hasn’t fought since UFC 280 in October of 2022 when she suffered a decision loss to Manon Fiorot. After the fight, Chookagian took time off as she was a free agent, and wanted to start a family. However, during her time off, Katlyn Chookagian revealed at UFC 299 media day she had two miscarriages, and she is returning to help get her mind off of that.

Katlyn Cerminara opens up on the "tough year" between fights ahead of her return at #UFC299:

"People that going through that, it's definitely really tough. They're definitely stronger than any of us up here doing fighting." pic.twitter.com/coUUW0WuT6

— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) March 6, 2024

“For the past year, I’ve been going through fertility treatments. It’s been a long year, that is why I thought I would be taking off from fighting for a little bit longer,” Katlyn Chookagian said at UFC 299 media day. “But, yeah for the last year, I went through three full rounds of IFV and I had two miscarriages. It’s been a tough year. I wanted to take break from that, not just mentally but physically. Going through fertility is so hard. It’s so hard that I’m taking a fight to take a mental and physical break from fertility treatments I’m taking a fight because this is way, way easier than dealing with that.

“It’s a shame because unfortunately, I know so many people that are going through this right now. Just my friend alone, my close friends are dealing with this. And you hear it, because people don’t talk about it, because it’s personal and really hard to talk about. But it’s really hard and there are so many people going through 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,” Katlyn Chookagian continued.

“Taking this fight wasn’t just okay ‘Here’s a camp, let’s get in shape.’ It was dealing with the load of that, getting over that. I had to reset my body and I needed that little bit of extra time to get into fight shape,” Katlyn Chookagian concluded. “The second time I found out, I went to the doctor’s office, I got the bad news and that night my manager happened to be in Manhattan. We went for dinner and I was like ‘okay I need to get a fight.’ I just wanted a little mental break and something positive, I love fighting so much and it’s kind of all I know.”

It was a hard time for Katlyn Chookagian, but she is eager to step back into the Octagon at UFC 299 as she takes on rising star Maycee Barber.