A much-anticipated middleweight clash has been scratched from the upcoming UFC 275 card on June 11 as Marvin Vettori won’t be facing former UFC 185-pound titleholder Robert Whittaker.
On Wednesday morning, Vettori wrote a fiery tweet that implied “Bobby Knuckles” had pulled out of their scheduled meeting.
A source close to the situation confirmed to Sherdog that Vettori is looking for a new opponent. An official reason hasn’t been disclosed for Whittaker’s withdrawal.
In his latest Octagon assignment, Whittaker (23-6, 14-4 UFC) lost to Israel Adesanya in a middleweight championship affair at UFC 271. The Australian earned a shot to recapture the title he lost to Adesanya after taking home a unanimous decision victory over Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum at UFC on ESPN 22 and UFC 254, respectively. Whittaker has scored three victories in his last five appearances.
Vettori (18-5-1, 8-3-1 UFC) bounced back from a failed bid at Adesanya’s championship by upending Paulo Costa with a unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Fight Night 196. On that occasion, Costa forced the fight to be contested at 205 pounds. Before his loss to “Izzy,” Vettori was on a five-bout win streak. At the moment of writing, it is unknown whether Vettori will receive a new opponent or not.
UFC 275 will go down at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore, on June 11. In the main event, Glover Teixeira will attempt his first light heavyweight title defense against Jiri Prochazka. The co-headliner features a women’s flyweight championship affair between titleholder Valentina Shevchenko and Taila Santos.
More must-reads: