Amanda Nunes announced that she will not fight on May 9th so that she may have a full training camp. She told CBS Sports this on Monday.
Nunes indicated that she wanted to wait until “coronavirus pass” to have a full camp. Nunes was to defend her bantamweight title against Felecia Spencer. The May 9th event will be the first event to go forward for the company since the COVID-19 outbreak which shut down sporting events around the world. Dana White had teleconferences with fighters on Friday and Monday to answer any questions about the foregoing events as well as ensure that the fighters would be safe when going back to fighting.
Nunes-Spencer would have been one of three title events on May 9th with Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje vying for the interim lightweight championship and Henry Cejudo and Dominick Cruz going for the bantamweight title.
Payout Perspective:
White expressed the fact that fighters that did not feel comfortable fighting during this time would not be forced into doing so. Nunes is a two-division champ and has some leverage with whether or not she wants to fight. Moreover, one of the overarching issues with this stoppage is that most fighters will not have had full fight camps which may affect their performance in the Octagon. We may see other fighters taking a step back if they don’t feel safe or that they are rushed into a fight without proper training.
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