Sijara Eubanks recently ranted at UFC President Dana White after being awarded a flyweight title shot against Valentina Shevchenko only to then see it be taken away when the promotion opted to return to their original plan to have Joanna Jedrzejczyk fight instead.
Eubanks didn’t hold back on calling out White for ruining her title hopes, but it seems that her verbal tirade didn’t tarnish her relationship with the UFC boss – quite the opposite in fact.
“I remember I signed a bout [agreement] on a Monday and we had just under five weeks left [until UFC 230],” Eubanks recalled on The MMA Hour. “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—king fight was cancelled’ and he was like ‘no I think your f—king fight is cancelled.’ Then I go onto Twitter and my f—king fight is cancelled.
“So for eight days I was preparing to fight for a UFC flyweight title.
“I hit up Ali (Abdelaziz) 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—king 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—king major. You dropped the f*cking ball major. That’s your f—king fault and you’ve got to fix it.’”
Eubanks rant didn’t change White’s mind, but he did appear to gain new-found respect for the feisty fighter’s passion and intensity.
“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—ked 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.”
Eubanks will now still fight at UFC 230, going up against Roxanne Modafferi in what she hopes could be a fight that will decide the division’s next title contender.
