Former UFC middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker, has reportedly pulled out his upcoming UFC 248 fight against number four ranked contender, Jared Cannonier.
Sources are indicating this is due to “undisclosed personal reasons” – which really doesn’t provide any detail whatsoever.
Robert Whittaker is out his March 7 UFC 248 fight against Jared Cannonier due to undisclosed personal reasons, sources say. UFC efforting to keep Cannonier on the card but no opponent locked in yet, I’m told.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 15, 2020
The Australian has been living quietly without any publicly known drama or issues since losing his title to Israel Adesanya at UFC 243. Nor has he fought since the milestone Melbourne event. Whittaker has, however, been sighted sharpening his grappling skills at Sydney’s local Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitive circuits.
With no replacement currently locked in, the UFC is scrambling to keep Cannonier on the card. This marks the second abrupt demand for a replacement in the last few months, the previous incident being when Frankie Edgar filled in for Brian Ortega against Chan Sung Jung during December’s Fight Night 165.
Robert Whittaker is OUT of his fight against Jared Cannonier at UFC 248. @arielhelwani first reported.
Such a bummer. That was a great fight. Maybe Darren Till would be interested as a replacement?
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) January 15, 2020
Currently, speculation has been thrown around regarding whether Darren Till will step up to the challenge on such short notice. But again, the news is still extremely fresh. Meaning we’ll just have to wait and see.
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