Nunes withdraws from UFC 213 main event

Despite being medically cleared, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes withdrew from her main event fight against Valentina Shevchenko this past weekend at UFC 213.

UFC president Dana White voiced his disappointment over Nunes’s decision and speculated that her decision to withdraw was more mental than physical.

White also said that the organization is looking to re-book the fight at UFC 215 in Edmonton and said that he will not book Nunes for a main event in the future.

UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk offered to fight Shevchenko on short notice, but at that point, it was too late for the Nevada Athletic Commission to sanction another fighter on short notice.

Simon: Nunes had a legit reason for not fighting

Ringside Report and Wrestling Uncensored's Dave Simon joined Tony Marinaro to discuss Amanda Nunes' decision to pull out of UFC 213 due to chronic sinusitis.

St-Pierre’s next opponent will not be Michael Bisping

In the main event of UFC 213, Robert Whittaker became the UFC’s first Australian champion when he defeated Yoel Romero for the interim middleweight title.

After defeating Romero, he was confronted in the cage by the middleweight champion Michael Bisping to promote their future fight for the undisputed championship.

Early this year, it was announced that Bisping would defend his title against the returning Georges St-Pierre. However, in recent months, UFC president White said that the organization was going to move in another direction.

White now says that they are targeting a fight between St-Pierre and the winner of the welterweight title fight between champion Tyron Woodley and Demian Maia, which takes place later this month at UFC 214 in Anaheim.

White also said that he hopes Bisping and Whittaker fight in Australia.

Overeem believes he is next in line for heavyweight title fight

In the co-main event of UFC 213, Alistair Overeem defeated former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum by a majority decision.

After the fight, Overeem said that he felt he was next in line to fight Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title and that he wanted to do so at Madison Square Garden in November.

White was a bit less enthusiastic, saying that while Overeem’s performance was less than convincing, but acknowledging that he was a top heavyweight.

Miocic also previously defended his title against Overeem at UFC 203 less than a year ago, which also works against his title aspirations.

Gaethje impresses in UFC debut

When big stars from other organizations make their UFC debut, they often stumble out of the gate. This was the case with future champions like Anthony Pettis and Eddie Alvarez, as well as big signings like Hector Lombard and Gilbert Melendez.

Undefeated Justin Gaethje, the former lightweight champion of the Profesional Fighters League (formerly the World Series of Fighting), was given a top-5 ranked opponent in Michael Johnson for his debut.

Despite being the underdog, Gaethje defeated Johnson in the second round of one of the most intense striking battles in UFC history in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption Finale this past Friday.

Gaethje called for a fight with 2nd-ranked Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight title.

White was impressed with Gaethje and said that he could soon be in the title mix, but that he was hoping to re-book Ferguson and top-ranked Khabib Nurmagomedov sometime soon.

Bonuses and attendance

At UFC 213, Canadian Chad Laprise was one of four fighters to walk away with a Performance of the Night bonus. The other three went to Rob Font, Romero and newly minted interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.

Attendance for UFC 213 was 12,834 with a gate of $2.4 million.

At The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption Finale, attendance was 6,308 with a gate of $432,495.

Justin Gaethje earned two bonuses, one performance bonus and another fight of the night bonus. The other bonuses went to Michael Johnson for his incredible fight with Gaethje and Tecia Torres, who earned the first fight finish of her career.

The next UFC card is Sunday in Glasgow and is headlined by a welterweight fight between Gunnar Nelson and Santiago Ponzinibbio. The main card airs on TSN5 at 3pm et.