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Had everything gone right for Valentina Shevchenko, the Kyrgyzstani-Peruvian UFC bantamweight contender would've closed the Amanda Nunes chapter of her career two months ago. That is when "Bullet" was supposed to take on the promotion's 135-pound champion before UFC 213's headliner fell apart at the last minute with Nunes calling in sick.



At least, that was the reasoning the champion's team gave. But Shevchenko isn't having it.



"Do I believe [Nunes' reasoning for canceling the fight]? No," Shevchenko said. "I don't believe in this history about sinusitis, all these things. I don't believe this. The real reason why she pulled out, I think, is she cut too much weight in 24 hours, and she was feeling too weak. This is the real reason."



Despite appearing to be fairly angry and frustrated with her opponent at the time, Shevchenko claims she doesn't have any hard feelings toward Nunes heading into their long-awaited rematch at UFC 215 this Saturday in Edmonton, Canada..



"I'm not angry with her, because she is my opponent and I have to pass through her, and nothing more," Shevchenko said. "And this feeling [of anger] is just not good for the fight. I know exactly what I have to do in the fight, and to make things happen, I have to keep my mind cold.



"I never met with my opponents, because for me, she is my opponent. It's like, just one obstacle [in] my way, before my goal to win the title. How can I be mad? No, I cannot be mad, because I focus on my fight. And for the fight, I have to have my mind very, very cold to make the right decisions."



With that cold mind, the Thai boxing expert believes she can indeed make the right decisions to get the job done that she failed at 18 months ago. When the two strikers met at UFC 196 in March of last year, Shevchenko survived two hard rounds to rally back in the third, which wasn't enough to convince the judges that night -- or to finish the fight, which is what the 29-year-old plans to do in the co-main event of UFC 215 on Saturday.



"It's difficult to say if it is worse or better [being a rematch]," Shevchenko said. "For me, there is really no reason to worry about or to think about, because the one thing that I have to be sure is to feel great for the fight […] and to finish the fight and to do [an] excellent job in the Octagon."



To be able to do that, hard feelings must go out the window once she steps foot inside the cage. That's why, despite her irritation regarding how things went back in July during International Fight Week, Shevchenko promises to keep focused on her real task.



"It was difficult to believe, really difficult to believe that [withdrawing from fights on such short notice] is happening at this level of competition," Shevchenko said. "But, when you're starting to think, you spend too much time thinking 'I'm so mad' or something like this. It's not good for a fighter. It's not good for any person. So, I just put my mind on September 9 and started to prepare for September 9."

