Nunes out of UFC 213 with illness, Whittaker-Romero new main event

The scheduled UFC 2013 main event is off after women's bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes was forced to withdraw from the card due to an illness, Dana White confirmed to MMA Junkie's John Morgan.

Nunes was scheduled to defend her title against Valentina Shevchenko, but was reportedly hospitalized Saturday in the hours leading up to the fight.

"The doctor cleared (Nunes) to fight," White told Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times. "She said she doesn't feel good. It is what it is. You can't make anyone fight."

The bout between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker for the interim men's middleweight title will serve as the new main event.

This marks the third straight year the the main event during the UFC's International Fight Week had to be changed within days of the event. Jose Aldo was forced out of a planned fight with Conor McGregor at UFC 189 in 2015, and Jon Jones was pulled from a scheduled bout with Daniel Cormier at last year's UFC 200 after testing positive for a banned substance.