Robert Whittaker in serious condition.

On January 14, UFC Middleweight champion Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker, shocked the MMA world by announcing that he was medically unfit to defend the title against Former champion Luke Rockhold. The fight was set to take place in Whittaker’s home country of Australia at UFC 221, Perth. The champ declined to offer a specific medical condition that disqualified him from competition, but assured the fans they would receive a fantastic Interim title fight in Rockhold vs Yoel “The Soldier Of God” Romero.

Most fans assumed that Whittaker’s compromising condition was related to the knee injury he suffered against Yoel Romero in their title fight last year. Whittaker said that he had sustained an injury in camp, and Yoel stomping on his knee in the first round sprained the MCL sprain, which left Robert unstable for the rest of their fight.
However, the MCL is an extremely robust ligament and, unlike others, has an impressive ability to repair itself. Whittaker had mentioned in several interviews that he was already back to training full tilt just months after the victory over Yoel.

This Saturday, at UFC Boston, Dana White revealed that Whittaker’s condition was far more serious than a sprained MCL.

He told TSN.com, “He had staph infection in his stomach. 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.”

Staph infections are notorious in the grappling community, and can be deadly if left untreated until late stages or treated improperly. Fortunately, most afflicted make full recoveries, provided they do not contract an antibiotic resistant strain.

Whittaker has been posting some recovery photos on social media, and it seems he is no longer hospitalized. Knowing Whittaker, he will want to defend his title as soon as possible, but for now Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero will decide his first contender at their spectacular bout at UFC 221.

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