Robert Whittaker out of UFC 234 main event against Kelvin Gastelum
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UFC 234 has lost its headliner just hours before the show is set to begin after Whittaker was hospitalized the night before with a hernia in his abdomen that will require surgery.
ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto reported the unfortunate news on Twitter via Dana White, forcing Israel Adesanya vs Anderson Silva to fill in as the main event at the Rob Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. The scrap is said to remain three rounds.
According to White, Whittaker started to complain of pain in his abdomen late last night. Whittaker’s injury was believed to be related to his weight cut, however, those rumors have since been shut down. Ariel Helwani tweeted, “According to source very close to Robert Whittaker here’s what happened: He started getting abdominal cramps and bloating late last night. Then vomiting started at about 10pm. He was taken to hospital at about 2am and has had a series of tests and scans and is now in surgery.”
Cowboy Cerrone, Michael Chiesa, and Jacare Souza have all campaigned on social media to fill in for Whittaker. This marks the second Australian headliner that Whittaker has been forced to pull out of. Last February, the middle champion withdrew from his scheduled title bout against Luke Rockhold, which was set to headline UFC 221 in Perth. There have now been four main or co-main event changes to the UFC calendar so far in 2019.
The lightweight bout between Lando Vannata and Marcos Rosa has been promoted from the Fight Pass prelims to the co-main event.
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