Three great fight announcements, and a possible loss
Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko, Justin Gaethje vs. Michael Jonson, and Chris Weidman vs. Kelvin Gastelum were announced, while it appears Cody Garbrandt vs. T.J. Dillashaw may be off.
Several terrific fights were announced at the Summer Kickoff press conference in Dallas, in addition to Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones at UFC 214.
Undefeated former World Series of Fighting lightweight champion Justin Gaethje called for a tough UFC debut, and he has one. Gaethje will fight Michael Jonson at “The Ultimate Fighter 25” finale in Las Vegas on July 7. The event will be televised on Fox Sports 1. Johnson has just one win his last four fights, but his competition has been against some of the best in the world.
Further, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman will fight Kelvin Gastelum at UFC on FOX 25 at July 22, on Long Island. Weidman is on a three-fight losing streak. Gastelum is coming off a win over Vitor Belfort that was changed to a No Contest when the fighter failed an in-competition test for marijuana.
UFC 213 had something new, and may lose something. Garbrandt indicated that a back injury may have taken him out of the main event.
Tomorrow, I will be flying to Germany with Danny Castillo to have another procedure done! posted Garbrandt on Facebook according to MMA Weekly. My health comes first over anything! Once I am (100 percent) healthy and my back can hold up with the intense training I’ll put it through, I’ll line up to defend my title at a later date!! Thank you all for the support!!
However, it was announced that the co-main would be UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko. The two fought a little over a year ago with Nunes getting a decision, but onlookers believing with another round Shevchenko would have taken it. This time there will be two more rounds.
Since that fight Nunes defeated Miesha Tate taking the title, and successfully defended it against Ronda Rousey. Shevchenko too has won twice since then, decisioning Holly Holm and submitting Julianna Peña.
And Nunes continued the day’s stupidity by shoving her knuckles in Shevchenko’s face.
While it doesn’t compare to charges of sandblasting prostitutes or bragging about cocaine use there is a faceoff line and Nunes crossed it, not in a good way.