Sijara Eubanks has gone through a lot in the past several weeks with the UFC. Initially, it was announced that she would main event the UFC’s return to Madison Square Garden next month (Sat. November 3, 2018). Eubanks was announced to be fighting Valentina Shevchenko for the vacant women’s flyweight title.
At the time, it was the only title fight scheduled for the card. However, once the UFC landed a heavyweight title bout for the card, plans changed. The fight between Shevchenko and Eubanks was called off. Shevchenko vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk was announced for the vacant flyweight title at UFC 231. The news initially hit social media, which is how Eubanks found out about her fight being called off.
Speaking to “The MMA Hour” recently, Eubanks detailed what happened the moments following realizing her main event fight at Madison Square Garden was off. She also revealed a conversation she had with UFC President Dana White, where she completely went off on the UFC boss (via MMA Fighting):
“I hit up Ali and Ali didn’t answer at first,” said Eubanks. “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.’”
As for how White reacted to Eubanks’ rant, he apparently liked it. White, in turn, kept Eubanks on the UFC 230 card with a flyweight fight against mixed martial arts (MMA) veteran Roxanne Modafferi. However, she went from the main event of the evening, to the second to last fight on the FS1 preliminary card:
“He thought it was great,” said Eubanks. “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.”
What do you think about Eubanks yelling at Dana White?
