Luke Rockhold’s fight with Robert Whittaker has been cancelled after the Australian suffered an injury in training. This means that his chosen opponent Rockhold will now face Yoel Romero for the interim title in what will be the main fight on February 11, in Perth, Australia.
According to reports, the winner of the new main event between Rockhold and Romero should technically then faces the middleweight champion Whittaker later this year.
It’s a blow to the UFC’s next pay-per-view card in Australia since Whittaker is from the region and would obviously have been a big local draw for the event.
“I would like to apologise to all my supporters and fans of MMA for not being able to put on the show you deserve. I’ve been ruled medically unable to compete and won’t be able to defend on home ground.” Whittaker said
“This card meant so much to me and I’m devastated for not being able to fight. All I can do is focus on getting healthy to comeback better than ever all the best to Yoel and Luke for their fight.
“I hope the fans enjoy what should be a great night of fights at UFC 221, and I look forward to recovery as soon as possible that will have me back in the Octagon to face the winner of the main event.” Whittaker added.
Instead of the triumphant return of the local champion, the UFC will instead crown an interim champion less than a year after Whittaker won an interim title while the middleweight belt was inactivated due to a fight between Michael Bisping, the champion at the time and St-Pierre.
St-Pierre finally beat Bisping in November, winning the middleweight title, before getting rid of the belt a few weeks later. The interim title of Whittaker has therefore become unchallenged.
Luke Rockhold now faces Yoel Romero at UFC 221 in February. (Source:www.bjpenn.com)
Former Olympic silver medalist in wrestling, Romero had to cross swords with Branch on February 24. He had bowed to Whittaker for the interim belt at his last outing in July.
As for the new main event, Rockhold was already scheduled for the card, but Romero will now jump into the fray and try to get his hands on the championship again.
