Tag: UFC 248

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)

Mark Madsen To Face Austin Hubbard At UFC 248

News broke Saturday that undefeated fighter Mark Madsen (9-0) will return to the UFC in March, facing Austin Hubbard (11-3) on the UFC 248 card.

First reported by Farah Hannoun of MMAJunkie, the bout is scheduled to be on the preliminary portion of the card and set at lightweight.

Madsen made his UFC debut in September, stopping Danilo Belluardo in just over a minute with strikes, co-main eventing the card.

Hubbard has a 1-1 record in the UFC, recently getting his first promotional win over Kyle Prepolec via unanimous decision.

Both fighters have competed in regional promotion LFA before, never losing under that banner.

From Denmark, Madsen has fought for recognized promotion Cage Warriors when they have toured to the country. He went 3-0 in 2019.

Schedule to headline UFC 248 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA is Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Zhang will be putting her UFC Strawweight Championship on the line, which was earned in August with a TKO victory over Jessica Andrade.

Here’s the full card for UFC 248 so far:

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

Bout 2: Robert Whittaker (20-5) vs. Jared Cannonier (13-4) (Middleweight)

Bout 3: Jeremy Stephens (28-17) vs. Calvin Kattar (20-4) (Featherweight)

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

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

Bout 6: Emily Whitmire (4-3) vs. Polyana Viana (10-4) (Strawweight)

Bout 7: Guido Cannetti (8-4) vs. Danaa Batgerel (6-2) (Bantamweight)

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

Bout 9: Alex Oliveira (20-8-1) vs. Max Griffin (15-7) (Welterweight)

Bout 10: Rodolfo Vieira (6-0) vs. Saparbeg Safarov (9-2) (Middleweight)

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