Macdonald forced to withdraw from UFC 158 due to injury; Condit now faces Hendricks | UFC Betting Sites

The highly-anticipated Rory MacDonald vs. Carlos Condit rematch is off.

According to multiple sources close to the fight, MacDonald suffered a neck and back injury in training recently, which has forced the young Canadian fighter to withdraw from his fight against Condit at UFC 158.

As a result, according to other sources, Condit will now face Johny Hendricks (14-1) at UFC 158. Hendricks was supposed to fight Jake Ellenberger on the same card. A new opponent has not been signed for Ellenberger.

“Unfortunately late last week during a training session, Rory suffered a severe neck and back strain,” MacDonald’s manager Lex McMahon told MMAFighting.com. “Rory is in a great deal of pain and has a very limited range of motion in his neck. Rory consulted a doctor and was advised that he will need to take three to four weeks off from training while he rehabs the injury.

“Rory is very upset that he will not be able to face Carlos Condit at UFC 158 but is looking forward to getting back to training as soon as possible and fighting the UFC’s top competition.”

MacDonald (14-1) most recently defeated B.J. Penn via unanimous decision at UFC on FOX 5 in December. He has won his last four fights in a row since losing his first MMA fight to Condit at UFC 115 in June 2010.

Condit (28-6) lost a UFC welterweight title unification bout to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 154 in November. The loss snapped his five-fight winning streak.

UFC 158, headlined by Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz, will take place March 16 at Bell Centre in Montreal.