Quemuel Ottoni withdrew from his fight against Kody Steele at Dana White’s Contender Series due to an anxiety crisis and the overwhelming pressure of the event, leading UFC CEO Dana White to comment on the mental challenges fighters face and promise Steele another opportunity.
Quemuel Ottoni has opened up on why he didn’t fight Kody Steele at Tuesday’s Dana White’s Contender Series in Las Vegas.
Ottoni was expected to co-headline the card opposite Steele at UFC APEX. News broke minutes before the fight that the Brazilian lightweight had withdrawn due to personal reasons.
UFC CEO Dana White said on the broadcast, “sometimes you don’t have to actually get in the cage to realize, ‘This isn’t for me. I can’t handle the pressure. I don’t want to do this.’ This is what this is all about.” White announced that Steele will receive another opportunity on a future DWCS card.
Ottoni deleted most of the DWCS-related posts he had made during fight week from his Instagram page. He posted a video on Wednesday to address the situation.
“I ended up not fighting yesterday after really having an anxiety crisis, adrenaline, freezing a bit after seeing all that,” Ottoni said in Portuguese. “Watching it from the other side of the screen is one thing, but being there and seeing the cameras, cars, and even people you … There’s no excuse for what happened.”
“I made weight. It was a struggle to gain back the weight, I felt sick on the way back [up in weight], but even that isn’t an excuse. I gained 8 kg. [17.6 pounds] with severe stomach pain, but that’s not why I didn’t fight.”
“It was a mix of everything, the anxiety, seeing the camera, seeing the cutman doing my hands, people I’ve seen the most, and that’s it.”
Ottoni, 12-3 as a professional and a one-time Jungle Fight welterweight champion who gave Alex Pereira his first loss ever in MMA, has now had four cancelled fights in a row. This includes three planned PFL matches.
Ottoni has not fought since May of 2022.