UFC President Dana White has confirmed that Nunes’ ‘refusal’ to fight means she will not get another headline slot in the UFC as champion
Nunes’ withdrawal from the main event at the 11th hour of Saturday’s UFC 213 card did not go down well with White (h/t MMAJunkie):
“I won’t main event that title again,” he told MMAjunkie following the pay-per-view at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Referring to Nunes’ ‘refusing’ to fight Valentina Shevchenko as ’90 percent mental and maybe 10 percent physical’ White confirms that he does not have faith in the Brazilian going forward to reschedule the bout as a headline event. Although ruling out any possibility of stripping Nunes, the UFC President was confused by the 135-pound champion’s decision:
“These situations arise all the time,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had a situation like today, though, where she was physically capable of fighting.”
UFC 213 was initially scheduled to feature a bantamweight title clash between TUF: Redemption coaches and arch-rivals Cody “No Love” Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw. Just last week, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Robbie Lawler’s potentially epic encounter was slashed from the bill following Cerrone’s staph infection and groin strain. Given the unfortunate circumstances preceding fight night, White appeared to indicate that he was let down by Nunes:
“I got a call that (Nunes) wasn’t feeling well and that it was questionable whether she was going to show up to the ceremonials, because the doctor needed to see her and they needed to find out what was going on with her,” White said. “She does them. Everything’s good. This morning I wake up, and I hear that she’s not feeling well again – no, she’s not feeling well again, and she’s probably not going to fight.
“I asked the doctors what was wrong with her. She was medically cleared. She was physically OK. They found nothing wrong with her. But she didn’t feel right.”
