Valentina Shevchenko was set to fight UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes in the main event of UFC 213, but the champion pulled out of the fight due to a bout of chronic sinusitis.
While UFC President Dana White says the bout is going to be rescheduled, the title challenger still feels the champion hasn’t been completely honest about the whole UFC 213 fiasco.
“I don’t 100% believe that it’s true,” Shevchenko said on The MMA Hour. “She’s trying to say that this was medical something, like with medicals because of her illness or something like this — because during all this week before the fight, [even] one day before the fight at weigh-ins, or the (open) workouts, everybody saw her in very good health, very aggressive. And even at the weigh-ins, she was saying, ‘I’m ready to give this fight, very good fight and take the victory,’ saying and doing all things aggressive like she did. Then after weigh-ins, the day of the fight, she [pulls] out, she says, ‘okay, I was feeling bad all week.’ But at the same time she was saying, every time, that she was feeling very strong and prepared for the fight.”
Shevchenko and Nunes has clashed before, with Nunes earning a decision win at UFC 196.
The challenger also feels that when the rematch is in the planning stages, the champion will find a way to get out of that fight as well.
“I will not be surprised if the next time the UFC gives another date for the fight, she will turn down the fight at the same moment and do this kind of stuff again,” Shevchenko said. “Because every time I [read about] history, I read about how armies use tactics for winning their battles, and sometimes they are doing the same. Like, they prepare for the fight, their opponents prepare for the fight, then in the right moment they are turning down an opponent. They’re expecting to relax their opponent [until] an unexpected time for them to attack and win the fight. And of course, I will not be surprised if she will do the same again the next time and try to relax me and wait until the right moment to say, ‘okay, let’s do the fight,’ feeling that I’m not prepared and try to play with this gameplan. But I want to say, it will not happen with me anytime — and she will try to do it anyway — because I’m training every day. It doesn’t matter if I have a fight or don’t have fight, I train at every time and I will be prepared for every time.”
If the bout is rescheduled for UFC 215, the two will then do battle on Saturday, September 9 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
