Marvin Vettori needs a new opponent.
Bad news for the UFC 275 card in Singapore.
Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has withdrawn from his bout with former title challenger Marvin Vettori due to injury.
Sorry to say guys due to an injury I took early in the camp I’m not able to compete in June. I did everything I could to get it right but its not healing in time. All this means is that I’ll be back in the octagon a couple months later and I’ll be better than ever pic.twitter.com/Q0PEtjxDfs
— Robert Whittaker (@robwhittakermma) April 21, 2022
Obviously Vettori was aware of the news earlier and wasted no time calling out Darren Till and Khamzat Chimaev as possible replacement opponents for the June 11th pay-per-view.
We’re back at this.
I think I’m the only 185er that can say that has never pulled out of a fight but anyway smash boys I’ll get you back to back lets do it I’m willing to die just show up @KChimaev @darrentill2 @Mickmaynard2 @AliAbdelaziz00 @danawhite— Marvin Vettori (@MarvinVettori) April 20, 2022
Whittaker (23-6) is coming off a close title fight rematch loss to Israel Adesanya at UFC 271 in February. Prior to that loss, he’d rattled off three straight decision wins over Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, and Kelvin Gastelum. Adesanya remains the only person who’s defeated Whittaker at middleweight.
Vettori (18-5-1) fought for the title last year, losing a unanimous decision to Adesanya at UFC 263. The Italian bounced back with a thrilling five-round decision over Paulo Costa last October. His overall UFC record is an impressive 8-3-1, including other five-round wins over Kevin Holland and Jack Hermansson.
UFC 275 is headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between champion Glover Teixeira and challenger Jiri Prochazka. The co-main event pits women’s flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko against Taila Santos.