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Felicia Spencer was blindsided by rumors she was being replaced by Amanda Nunes at UFC 240 and that narrative was furthered by Cyborg on Twitter.
Felicia Spencer has been preparing for Cris Cyborg for a long, long time and is not about to be overshadowed by the potential of a Cyborg vs. Amanda Nunes rematch.
Earlier in July, a report claimed Spencer was out of UFC 240 and the promotion was looking to book a rematch between Cyborg and Nunes. That rumor was quickly shut down, but not before Cyborg’s official Twitter handle acknowledged it. In a now-deleted tweet, Cyborg furthered the rumor. This compelled Spencer to address Cyborg directly on Twitter, refusing to be dismissed and insisting the UFC 240 co-main event was still on.
“When I saw that Cris Cyborg or whoever manages her account shared it and commented like, ‘hopeful [that] ticket sales might go up,’ I was like, you know for sure this is not true. You would have been the first to know if I was out of the fight. Cris Cyborg would know 100 percent if I was not fighting her,” Spencer told Bloody Elbow. “So to share it like that, as if it were true or possible, I thought it was silly. I called it disrespectful. It’s not a personal thing for me, I don’t really care, but I shared that because I’m still here. I’m still going to stand in front of you in a couple of weeks. You can pretend like you don’t want to fight me — I’m not saying that she’s scared — but I’m here to fight. It is what it is.”
Cyborg subsequently apologized and deleted the tweet. “Why would you even share something that you know is completely untrue?” Spencer asked.
Spencer had not planned for such a quick-ascension up the UFC women’s featherweight division. She previously told Bloody Elbow she had expected a slow-burn up the ladder prior to being booked with Megan Anderson. She definitely did not anticipate to be fighting the legendary Cyborg in her sophomore UFC outing. “I didn’t even plan to have such a quick turnaround. I was hesitant to even go through with that because I’ve never done it before. It’s definitely something I’m glad worked out,” she admitted. “In my mind, I’m always very into recovery and getting better at it. Giving yourself the time off you need. The exhaustion doesn’t come from the fight, so much as the fight camp.”
“We thought about it long and hard. I wasn’t sure I wanted to at first, but the more I thought about it the more I was craving the opportunity,” she continued. “I know this is the last fight on Cyborg’s contract… If I miss this opportunity it might be gone forever.”
UFC 240 goes down at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on July 27. The event his headlined by a UFC featherweight title fight between Max Holloway and Frankie Edgar.