UFC boss says Nunes won’t get main events
UFC President LAS VEGAS Dana White said Amanda Nunes’ dramatic late withdrawal from UFC 213 was “90% mental” and vowed never to place the women’s bantamweight champion in a main event again.
White was left frustrated when the Brazilian star pulled out of her bout with Valentina Shevchenko just hours before its scheduled time slot Saturday, leaving a significant gap at the top of the card.
Nunes said she was too unwell to compete in what would have been the second defense of her belt after beating Miesha Tate to secure the title and demolishing Ronda Rousey in December.
However, White said doctors had cleared her to fight after conducting numerous checks. “It was 90% mental and probably 10% physical,” he said. “A lot of fighters have had times they didn’t feel right, and we’ve had guys who are outright sick.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a situation like (this) where she was physically capable of fighting. I won’t do that again. I won’t main event (her) again.”
After Nunes pulled out, there was speculation her struggles to make the 135-pound bantamweight limit had caused her to suffer an illness severe enough to keep her out of the fight.
Sunday, Nunes posted her side of the story on Twitter, saying she had chronic sinusitis.
“I have fought with it before but this time it didn’t work out, during the weight cut I was unable to breath and felt off balance from the pressure in my sinuses. ... I am sorry to all my fans that came out to see me, I’ll make it up to you the next time I step in the cage.”
Shevchenko was furious and said she thought Nunes had tried to gain an advantage by performing a late and drastic weight cut, before immediately bulking up again.
“When you receive notice you can fight but you don’t want to fight, it’s like, you had three months to prepare,” Shevchenko said. “It’s a big, huge event. You can’t just say, ‘Oh, no, I don’t feel good today.’ My goal is to be the champion, and I don’t care (against) who, when and where.”
The UFC will try to reschedule the event for UFC 215 in Edmonton on Sept. 9. Shevchenko was paid a discretionary $70,000 to offset her disappointment; Nunes received nothing.
“We didn’t pay her,” White said. “We have never seen anything like this from her before. There is no pattern of her refusing to fight somebody.
“She was medically cleared, physically OK. They found nothing wrong with her, but she didn’t feel right. You can’t make anybody fight. Was it the weight cut? No. She might not have been affected by the weight cut, but she was healthy.”
Since Rousey surrendered her belt to Holly Holm in November 2015, the bantamweight division has been through extraordinary upheaval. Holm was dethroned in her first defense by Tate, who in turn was trounced by Nunes.
This weekend’s saga was the latest wild development, one that took the sting out of the fight card.
Robert Whittaker’s bout against Yoel Romero for the interim middleweight title was bumped into the main event slot, and Whittaker emerged from a tough battle with a unanimous points victory.