The UFC's middleweight division is in dire need of some stability.
Michael Bisping's title reign was hit with criticism due to the fact that his only successful defence in 17 months came against Dan Henderson, a rival who wasn't exactly up there in the 185lbs rankings at the time.
After Bisping's dethroning, courtesy of the returning welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre, the division was thrown into even more uncertainty after GSP decided to vacate the title after a month.
In the meantime, Robert Whittaker had claimed the interim middleweight strap and had been promoted to undisputed champion after St-Pierre opted to walk away from the belt.
Stability looked on the cards, with Whittaker scheduled to defend his title against Luke Rockhold at UFC 221, but the middleweight curse struck again when 'Bobby Knuckles' was hit with a case of staph and was forced out of the Perth main event.
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Staph is a common infection among grapplers and it should be Googled at your peril because it's not exactly easy on the eye.
But Whittaker's case of staph sounds much more serious than most as UFC President Dana White has revealed that the Aussie fighter has been left in a serious condition with the infection.
"He had staph infection in his stomach," White told
TSN, via
MMA Junkie. "From what I understand it wasn’t treated properly and started to eat away at parts of his organs.
"He’s in serious condition, so it’s going to be a minute before he’s back, I think. Hopefully it turns around quick, but that stuff is life threatening if not treated the right way."
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Whittaker took to Instagram to admit that he's "sick as a dog" and his fighting future remains up in the air.
We can only wish a speedy recovery to our pick for
fighter of the year in 2017.
