Valentina Shevchenko Isn’t Buying Amanda Nunes’ Excuse For Pulling Out

Valentina Shevchenko isn’t buying UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes‘ explanation for why she pulled out of their scheduled UFC 213 pay-per-view (PPV) main event title clash.

Nunes pulled out of the fight the morning of the event, citing a nasty case of sinusitis as why she couldn’t compete. Despite the fact that doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with her and still cleared her to compete, Nunes opted to play it safe instead.

No. 1-ranked 135-pound title challenger Valentina Shevchenko joined The MMA Hour earlier today (Mon. July 10, 2017) to react to Nunes’ pull out. When asked for her thoughts on Nunes not fighting, “Bullet” said she’s not buying the excuse (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“I don’t 100% believe that it’s true,” Shevchenko said. “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 finds it odd that Nunes pulled out at the last second, given that she seemed extremely confident in the lead-up to fight night and felt very ‘strong’:

“I don’t know what she has in her mind, but I see what I see,” Shevchenko said. “She turned down the fight in the very, very last minute, and before the fight she was saying that, ‘I’m ready, I’m feeling good, I’m feeling strong,’ and everybody could see that she was feeling strong, she was feeling aggressive, she was acting in that way in our staredowns before the fight, at the weigh-ins, at the workouts. She was feeling totally healthy.”

Given that “Bullet” was unable to take center Octagon this past weekend and attempt to become UFC champ, it has left a sour taste in her mouth and she isn’t able to feel as free as she usually does once she gets through a fight:

“Usually after the fight, when the fight is over, you feel free,” Shevchenko said. “But this time, I did not feel free, and still, my goal and my mission is not complete. That’s why, for now, my mental situation, my mental condition, I am still in the same fight mode. And okay, it will be a little bit longer than I expected, but I am professional and I take it right now very cold, and I know exactly if I will put too much emotions in my mind, in my head, it will not work.

“For me, that’s why I am just waiting for my time. I will do the same, prepare the same with the same desire to put on my best performance for this fight, and I will do my work, I will do everything to win the fight for the next time.

“I hope that she will complete her part, too, and she will not turn down next time too.”