Valentina Shevchenko got a sizeable payday despite Nunes’ withdrawal

If things had gone according the original plan, Kyrgyzstan’s Valentina Shevchenko would have collided with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in the main event of UFC 213 last night. Regrettably, Nunes was forced out of this anticipated contest on the very day of battle. Though there was some brief talk of strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk stepping in to replace the bantamweight champion, this backup plan fizzled out, and Shevchenko was unfortunately left without a fight.

This, of course, is tremendously unfortunate, as Shevchenko invested a good deal of time and money into her preparations for Nunes. According to UFC President Dana White, however, the Kyrgyzstani striking specialist will not leave Vegas empty handed, as she has been compensated for her troubles with an amount of roughly $70k.

White explained the situation at the UFC 213 post-fight press conference.

White says he thinks Shevchenko got 70k for her troubles today.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 9, 2017

How this number stacks up against the amount Shevchenko would have been paid if she had fought and defeated Nunes is not known.

Shortly after Nunes’ withdrawal, Shevchenko released a statement on Instagram.

“Today I am 100% ready for this fight. During the last 3 months of training I did everything to be in my best shape for this fight. Nunes couldn’t cut weight correctly and was hospitalized. She wanted to cut weight and recover rapidly to have the advantage. The end result, everything went wrong. Even though she was medically cleared to fight, she backed out. This fight was originally offered to take place in April and she would not accept then.”

“I did my part and am very upset that I can’t fight for the title today on this great event. I am even more upset for all my dear fans who support me every time throughout the world and to those who traveled to see me fight here in Las Vegas live. I feel frustrated about what happened but I won’t relax, will not put down energy in my preparation, and will wait until the UFC gives us another date for the fight.”

Do you think this amount is adequate compensation for Valentina Shevchenko?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/9/2017.