Dana White explains cancellation of Nunes vs. Shevchenko 2, says bout will likely be moved to UFC 215

It seems like fans will have to wait until the fall to watch the rematch between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko.

Both female bantamweight fighters were scheduled to meet for a second time in the main event of tonight’s UFC 213, but Nunes pulled out from the fight just hours before the event. The Brazilian 135-pound champion withdrew from the bout citing illness, thus cancelling the bout, and promoting the co-main event between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker to the headlining slot.

UFC president Dana White went on ESPN just hours after the cancellation of the bout to explain what had transpired.

“Yesterday, she started to not feel good,” White said of Nunes. “We took her to the hospital and Dr. Davidson, whose our doctor here in Las Vegas, is fantastic, and handles all the fighters, did an evaluation on her and she was medically cleared to fight.

“So she [Nunes] did the weigh-ins yesterday – she made weight – she weighed in at ceremonial weigh-ins and squared off with Shevchenko, and then, went home last night. This morning she called again and said she didn’t feel good, so they brought her back in and started doing test on her and she said she didn’t want to fight. She was medically cleared to fight, she was checked and everything and was fine but she said she didn’t feel right.”

Now, having the bout officially off the card, White says the UFC will be taking care of Shevchenko, since she missed out on a pay day and the most important fight of her career, and that the bout will likely be rescheduled to UFC 215 in September.

“She’s devastated, obviously,” White said of Shevchenko. “Not only go through a full camp but you come, the whole prep, cut the weight, you weigh in, and you go through everything, and the day of the fight, the fight is pulled out from you. So it’s very tough, but obviously, we’re going to take care of her and we’re going to look to make this fight again hopefully in Edmonton. We have a fight coming up in Edmonton, which I believe is in September, we’ll try to make the fight then.”