Only hours before the fight was set to go down, the MMA world was dealt a disappointing blow earlier today (Sat., July 8, 2017) when it was announced that UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes had been hospitalized and was out of her title fight versus Valentina Shevchenko in the main event of tonight’s UFC 213 from Las Vegas.
The two top-ranked women’s bantamweights in the world by a solid margin, Nunes and Shevchenko have a long history with each other after their initial match at last year’s UFC 196, a fight which “The Lioness” won on the scorecards but was in trouble as she gassed in the third and final round, opening up the opportunity for “Bullet” to score enough that most feel she would have finished the fight where it a five-round affair.
That fight made the rematch one of the best and closely-contested affairs of a down 2017 for the UFC, so losing it naturally threw fans into an upheaval.
And Shevchenko understandably feels the same way, as she was set for the biggest fight of her long and decorated martial arts career after she won her way back to a rematch with Nunes, this time for the belt, by defeating Holly Holm and Julianna Pena. She released a statement containing her reaction on her official Instagram this evening:
“Today I am 100% ready for this fight. During the last 3 months of training I did everything to be in my best shape for this fight. Nunes couldn’t cut weight correctly and was hospitalized. She wanted to cut weight and recover rapidly to have the advantage. The end result, everything went wrong. Even though she was medically cleared to fight, she backed out. This fight was originally offered to take place in April and she would not accept then.
“I did my part and am very upset that I can’t fight for the title today on this great event. I am even more upset for all my dear fans who support me every time throughout the world and to those who traveled to see me fight here in Las Vegas live. I feel frustrated about what happened but I won’t relax, will not put down energy in my preparation, and will wait until the UFC gives us another date for the fight.”
“Bullet” is admittedly frustrated at the situation, where the rising Russian had many fans coming from far-off locales to see her fight in Las Vegas, costing them much of their time and hard-earned money for what amounted to nothing more than disappointment.
The same could be said for herself, as she was headed for by far the biggest payday of her four-fight UFC career in a bout that could have seen her accomplish her ultimate goal. She should have another chance soon, however, as UFC President Dana White hinted that Nunes vs. Shevchenko II could headline September’s UFC 215 from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Either way, Nunes may have some weight cutting issues to deal with as her rival suggested, and it’s just not a good look for a UFC champion to be withdrawing the day of a high-profile summer pay-per-view (PPV(0 event. Will it motivate “Bullet” to come out even stronger when they finally do throw down in the rematch?
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