Robert Whittaker Pulled From UFC 248 Bout Against Jared Cannonier

Robert Whittaker has been taken off his co-main event fight at UFC 248 in March against Jared Cannonier, citing “undisclosed personal reasons.”

Reported on Wednesday evening by Ariel Helwani of ESPN, it was also mentioned that the UFC are looking for a replacement opponent for Cannonier.

This is the third time in recent years that Whittaker has been taken off of fights. In 2018, Whittaker was pulled from a fight against Luke Rockhold due to an undisclosed injury.

Last year, Whittaker suffered a hernia, sidelining him against Kelvin Gastelum only a few days before the fight.

The UFC 248 was set to be Whittaker’s first since losing his UFC Middleweight Championship to Israel Adesanya in October.

The fight was a clear move-up in competition for Cannonier, who’s current three-fight winning streak has made him emerge as a title contender.

Still in place for the UFC 248 card is the main event, which will see Weili Zhang make the first defence of her UFC Strawweight Championship against Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Here’s the full card for UFC 248 as of right now:

Bout 1: Weili Zhang (20-1) vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (16-3) (UFC Strawweight Championship)

Bout 2: Jeremy Stephens (28-17) vs. Calvin Kattar (20-4) (Featherweight)

Bout 3: Beneil Dariush (17-4-1) vs. Drakkar Klose (11-1-1) (Lightweight)

Bout 4: Neil Magny (21-7) vs. Jingliang Li (17-5) (Welterweight)

Bout 5: Emily Whitmire (4-3) vs. Polyana Viana (10-4) (Strawweight)

Bout 6: Guido Cannetti (8-4) vs. Danaa Batgerel (6-2) (Bantamweight)

Bout 7: Jose Alberto Quinones (8-3) vs. Sean O’Malley (10-0) (Bantamweight)

Bout 8: Alex Oliveira (20-8-1) vs. Max Griffin (15-7) (Welterweight)

Bout 9: Rodolfo Vieira (6-0) vs. Saparbeg Safarov (9-2) (Middleweight)

Bout 10: Mark Madsen (9-0) vs. Austin Hubbard (11-3) (Lightweight)