Amanda Nunes releases statement on UFC 213 withdrawal, Dana White predicts Valentina Shevchenko rematch will happen at UFC 215

UFC 213’s loss is UFC 215’s gain, apparently.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter to break down everything that happened in the leadup to Amana Nunes falling ill and subsequently falling out of her main event fight against Valentina Shevchenko, which was set for last night’s (Sat., July 8, 2017) pay-per-view (PPV) event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Among the bullet points he hit were the fact that Nunes was medically cleared to fight, but ultimately decided against due to the fact that she wasn’t feeling well at all. Plus, the company’s head honcho also talked about his love and admiration for UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk for volunteering to step up on a few hours notice to take on “Bullet.”

He also applauded Valentina for accepting the matchup, though it all fell by the wayside in the end, allowing for the Yoel Romero vs. Robert Whittaker interim Middleweight title fight to get top billing (results here).

For her part, Nunes released the statement via Twitter embedded below apologizing for her withdrawal from the fight:

That said, White also revealed that Nunes vs. Shevchenko 2 will likely go down at the upcoming UFC 215 PPV event set for September 9, 2017 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. And since the card -- which currently features Junior dos Santos vs. Francis Ngannou and Gilbert Melendez vs. Jeremy Stephens — doesn’t have a main event announced, this women’s Bantamweight title fight should get top billing if it comes to fruition.

For complete UFC 213: “Romero vs. Whittaker” results, including play-by-play updates, click here.