Just a few hours before UFC 213 was scheduled to begin, rumours began to circulate on social media that UFC Bantamweight champion and headliner, Amanda Nunes had been hospitalized and her fight with Valentina Shevchenko subsequently cancelled.
The news was first announced by @TalkMMA and then confirmed by multiple other sources close to the UFC and Nunes.
Nunes was set to rematch Valentina Shevchenko after narrowly outpointing her at UFC 196 in March 2016. It was set to be her second consecutive headline shot at the promotion’s flagship annual event.
The annual event has now developed a recent history for fight cancellations with UFC 213 set to have both Cody Garbrandt vs. TJ Dillashaw and Robbie Lawler vs. Donald Cerrone on the card before both fights were cancelled due to injury with the latter being moved to UFC 214.
UFC 200 in July 2016 was originally slated for Conor McGregor to face Nate Diaz before that was moved to UFC 202 after disagreements over media commitments. Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier were scheduled to replace them as the main event slot before Jones tested positive in a USADA (US Anti-Doping) sample. The event was eventually headlined by Amanda Nunes and Miesha Tate.
The 2015 edition, UFC 189 also lost its main event with Conor McGregor set to face Jose Aldo. Aldo was ruled out through injury and was replaced by Chad Mendes.
UFC 213 will now go ahead with just eleven fights with the interim middleweight championship bout between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker moved to the main event slot.
It is unclear if the Nunes and Shevchenko bout will be rebooked in the future with UFC 214 and 215 on the horizon.
💪 8 fights
✊ 8 wins
👊 6 TKO/KOs
Next stop, Robert Whittaker... #UFC213
Robert Whittaker has been on a mission since moving up to middleweight after a 3-2 record at 170 pounds. Six wins in a row with three performance of the night bonuses alongside two fight of the night awards have propelled the Australian into title contention.
The Robert Whittaker train was expected to derail when he faced Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza at UFC on Fox 24 in April but he stopped the perennial middleweight contender in the second round to secure a bout with Romero.
7️⃣ fight winning streak
4️⃣ KO/TKO
3️⃣ Decisions
Rise up Australia! 🇦🇺 #UFC213
With Michael Bisping awaiting the victor, who wins interim gold in Vegas?
The card also features top UFC heavyweight contenders Alistair Overeem taking on former champion, Fabricio Werdum to complete their trilogy of fights with the winner certain to expect a rematch with heavyweight king, Stipe Miocic.
Former lightweight champion, Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis clashes with twenty-six fight UFC veteran Jim Miller whilst Curtis Blaydes and Daniel Omielanczuk meet in the heavyweight division.
The preliminary portion of the card is headed up by Travis Browne, who will be looking to avoid sliding to a four-fight losing streak as he takes on jiu-jitsu specialist Oleksiy Oliynyk who has submitted 42 different opponents over the course of his illustrious career.
The event gets underway at 23:30 in the UK on UFC Fight Pass before switching to BT Sport 2 at 01:00, with the main card beginning at 03:00.
