Whittaker (19-4), the reigning UFC middleweight champion, was forced to withdraw from his first scheduled title defense on Feb. 11 at UFC 221 due to an undisclosed injury. As a result, the UFC scheduled an interim title bout between top contenders Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero as UFC 221’s replacement main event, which takes place at the Perth Arena in Whittaker’s home country of Perth, Australia.
Whittaker released a statement regarding his unfortunate withdrawal early Saturday morning on social media. That statement can be read below.
With Whittaker out of the event, Romero (12-2) gets another crack at the interim UFC middleweight title.