For weeks now, the UFC has been struggling to find a main event for their return to Madison Square Garden in November. A number of possible fights were linked to the event including Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson for the light heavyweight title and Gustafsson vs. Yoel Romero for an interim title but neither bout came to fruition. Most notably, Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier - who will fight in the co-main event that evening - campaigned hard to fight for the UFC’s inaugural 165-pound title in the main event, but UFC President Dana White categorically shut that idea down. Now we know why.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Valentina Shevchenko would face Sijara Eubanks for the vacant women’s flyweight title in the main event for UFC 230. It’s a head-scratching decision, in no small part because Shevchenko was supposed to fight Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the vacant flyweight belt at UFC 231. It’s also a puzzling decision because most fans don’t even know who Eubanks is, and that includes highly visible UFC employees.

Speaking on his The Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show podcast, UFC commentator Joe Rogan gave a live reaction to the announcement, admitting that he doesn’t even know who Sijara Eubanks is.

“What?!” Rogan said. “No offense but I don’t even know who Sijara Eubanks is and I’m the commentator for the UFC.”

Rogan was not alone in his bewilderment. Rogan’s guest yesterday was MMA analyst and former UFC heavyweight, Brendan Schaub, and Schaub was in the same boat as Rogan.

“That’s gonna headline Madison Square Garden?!” Schaub said. “I’ve lost all energy in my body. Oh yeah, that gets my d*ck harder than Dustin Poirier vs. Nate Diaz for the 165-pound title.

“I’ve never heard of her, and I’m not being a d*ck either. I’m just saying, as far as headlining Madison Square Garden, you’ve got some nerve putting this together.”

Rogan and Schaub’s confusion can perhaps be excused since Eubanks is far from a household name. Eubanks made her bones on season 26 of The Ultimate Fighter, making her way to the finals where she was to compete against Nicco Montano for the inaugural 125-pound title. Eubanks missed weight for that bout and was subsequently replaced by veteran Roxanne Modafferi, who lost to Montano via unanimous decision. Since then, Eubanks has fought once, making her UFC debut with a unanimous decision win over Lauren Murphy.

Meanwhile, the UFC stripped Montano when she was unable to make weight for her scheduled title defense against Shevchenko and set up the Shevchenko-Jedrzejczyk fight that has now been abandoned in favor of Shevchenko-Eubanks. It’s a convoluted series of events that, as Rogan points out, doesn’t exactly reveal a deft hand pulling the promotional strings.

“Valentina against a girl who is 4-2 with one fight in the UFC, for the flyweight title,” Rogan said. “Nicco Montano, that stripped her because she didn’t make weight for one fight. What? Huh?”

For her part, Eubanks seems to be taking it all in stride, responding to Rogan’s reaction on her Twitter account and promising that Rogan would “never forget her again.”

Eubanks has a professional MMA record of 3-2, not including her three wins in The Ultimate Fighter house to advance to the TUF Finale. Shevchenko has a 15-3 record in MMA and an extensive background in Muay Thai and kickboxing where she won several world championships. Shevchenko also previously contended for the UFC bantamweight title, losing a controversial split decision to Amanda Nunes as UFC 215.

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MUST-READ STORIES

Strip. Tony Ferguson on UFC stripping interim title: ‘How do you think I f*cking feel?’

125. Valentina Shevchenko to face Sijara Eubanks for flyweight title in UFC 230 main event.

Coward. Alexander Gustafsson wants Jon Jones to sign contract: ‘Stop being a coward.’

KO. Anthony Pettis predicts Conor McGregor will knock out Khabib Nurmagomedov.

No bicep. Michael McDonald details how ‘worst pain’ of his life led to retirement decision.

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VIDEO STEW

Teammates talking about what makes Khabib different.

Embedded 2.

Bad Blood.

The lineage of the 155 pound title.

THE preview to watch.

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LISTEN UP

Obviously Fight Talk. Previewing UFC 229 with our own Chuck Mindenhall.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Nice.

Beef.

Chicken.

Yeah. Nate is why this happened.

Miscommunication.

Joanna is all of us.

Ouch.

Shade.

Ouch.

Speaking of.

Remember.

Not even sure what is going on here.

Boss Logic.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Lorenz Larkin (19-7, 1 NC) vs. Ion Pascu (18-8); Bellator 207, Oct. 12.

Robson Gracie (0-0) vs. Jamal Pottinger (0-0); Bellator 208, Oct. 13.

Jennifer Chieng (0-0) vs. Jessica Ruiz (0-0); Bellator 208, Oct. 13.

Valentina Shevchenko (15-3) vs. Sijara Eubanks (3-2); UFC 230, Nov. 3.

Angela Lee (9-0) vs. Jingnan Xiong (13-1); ONE Championship, Nov. 9.

Bibiano Fernandes (22-3) vs. Kevin Belingon (19-5); ONE Championship, Nov. 9.

Rafael dos Anjos (28-10) vs. Kamaru Usman (13-1); TUF 28 Finale, Nov. 30.

Pedro Munhoz (16-3, 1 NC) vs. Bryan Caraway (21-9); TUF 28 Finale, Nov. 30.

Gilbert Melendez (22-7) vs. Arnold Allen (13-1); TUF 28 Finale, Nov. 30.

Ashlee Evans-Smith (6-3) vs. Antonina Shevchenko (6-0); TUF 28 Finale, Nov. 30.

Roosevelt Roberts (6-0) vs. Darrell Horcher (13-3); TUF 28 Finale, Nov. 30.

Darren Stewart (9-3) vs. Edmen Shahbazyan (6-0); TUF 28 Finale, Nov. 30.

Tim Means (27-10) vs. Ricky Rainey (13-5); TUF 28 Finale, Nov. 30.

Mauricio Rua (25-11) vs. Tyson Pedro (7-2); UFC Adelaide, Dec. 2.

Junior dos Santos (19-5) vs. Tai Tuivasa (8-0); UFC Adelaide, Dec. 2.

Mark Hunt (13-13-1, 1 NC) vs. Justin Willis (7-1); UFC Adelaide, Dec. 2.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Lucas sums it up very well.

Seriously. Good for Eubanks, you’ve gotta take the opportunities given and make the most of them, but this is becoming absurd. The UFC’s insistence on having title fights headline PPVs is everything wrong with their promotional strategy. You make PPVs around fights fans care about, not around dates and locations where you then have to plug something in. This really isn’t that hard. MSG or not, the numbers on this thing are gonna be atrocious. 5 digits atrocious.

Anyway, thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow!

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EXIT POLL

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