UFC women’s flyweight Sijara Eubanks was close to fighting for the division’s vacant title in an upcoming pay-per-view event. With the fight having since been scrapped, Eubanks has come forward to reveal a heated conversation she recently had with UFC President Dana White over the matter.
UFC News
The highly anticipated fight card for UFC 230 has gone through several changes as of late. Tickets for the event went on sale without a headliner having been announced for UFC 230. Consequently, Valentina Shevchenko was later targeted to fight Sijara Eubanks for the vacant UFC women’s flyweight title in the night’s main event.
However, the UFC has since scrapped the fight in order to make a heavyweight title fight between Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis the night’s headliner. As a result, Sijara Eubanks is not particularly happy with her scrubbed title shot.
Speaking on a recent edition of The MMA Hour, Eubanks has come forward to detail a heated conversation with UFC President Dana White. The fighter says she screamed at the UFC executive for quite some time.
“It came out the blue. [Manager] Ali [Abdelaziz] called me up and said ‘how much do you weigh?’ I said ‘man my weight is good.’ And then he said ‘you’re fighting for the the title Nov. 3.’ I was ecstatic. I was through the roof. I had a feeling when Nicco got stripped that Valentina was going to want to turn around and fight soon. So after Nicco got stripped I kind of had it in the back of my head that I think something is going to happen. I was like ‘let me stay in shape and let me just train.’ I had a fight signed already so it was easy to stay motivated. Then they had signed Valentina and Joanna. I was still kind of like ‘something isn’t quite settle here.’ Then Ali calls me out the blue one weekend and says ‘five weeks you’re fighting for the title at Madison Square Garden.’ I was jumping around super excited. Biggest moment of my life. I didn’t even ask if it was Valentina. I just said ‘let’s do it.’
“So I signed a bout agreement. It happened pretty quickly. I first I got the call and then I signed the bout agreement within two days. So not quite two days later, but I believe within 24ish hours of when I go the call.”
“I remember I signed a bout [agreement] on a Monday and we had just under five weeks left [until UFC 230]. Then I found out on a Tuesday – I remember my cousin was flying up from Florida because he comes to all of my fights. He was like ‘bro your fight is cancelled’ and I’m like ‘I would know if my own f*cking fight was cancelled’ and he was like ‘no I think your f*cking fight is cancelled.’ Then I go onto Twitter and my f*cking fight is cancelled.
“So for eight days I was preparing to fight for a UFC flyweight title.”
“I hit up Ali and Ali didn’t answer at first. So my heart dropped. I figured Ali kind of found out the same way I did. So when he didn’t pick up I knew it was bad news. Then I started blowing him up and he picked up said ‘I’m sorry.’ I was like ‘Let me speak to Dana White. I want to speak with Dana. Ali put Dana White on the phone.’ So I ended up speaking with Dana. Well, more like yelling at Dana. I have a pattern of yelling at Dana I guess.
“So I was just screaming at Dana. I let him know ‘not only are you taking this away from me but you’re taking this away in a f*cked up kind of way. I’m going to tell you and I’m going tell everybody that you all f*cked up. You passed up on what was going to be the biggest upset in women’s MMA history.’ I was going to put Valentina on her ass. I was going to show up and show out at Madison Square Garden. I was going to get my f*cking belt and I was going to shut everyone the f*ck up and have a blast. I was like ‘you all passed up on something f*cking major. You dropped the f*cking ball major. That’s your f*cking fault and you’ve got to fix it.’”
“He thought it was great. I was in a parking lot pacing and screaming with veins coming out of my forehead. At the end of it, he tried to say a few things but I kept barking. So at the end of it, he laughed and said ‘I love it and I love you. Let me see what I can do.’ From the little I’ve interacted with him and from what I now about him, I knew he’d like what I said and he was happy with the way I reacted. I think if I had just rolled over and taken it, I would have gotten f*cked over pretty bad. So I let him know I’m not that type. I’m not gong to take it like that…I think he liked what I said and he did right by me.”
Check out Eubanks’ full thoughts within the video provided below.
