The injury bug ruins what could have been an incredible battle.

Kickboxing legend Gokhan Saki has been forced to withdraw from his upcoming Light heavyweight fight at UFC 219 with Khalil Rountree. The UFC released the unfortunate news on Tuesday, but neglected to give a reason for the withdrawal.

In a lengthy Instagram post the “Turkish Tyson” has revealed a knee injury.

As has been announced everywhere, i’m not fighting on the UFC 219 card. I wanted to announce this myself but i needed some time to recover mentally from this bad news. I got injured during a training and went to the hospital for this. My team and management took the decision with the medical team that i needed treatment and i have to think of my health first. I didn’t want to accept this but i’m glad i have the right people around me. It felt like i let my fans and supporters down, i was really looking forward to this fight. So the bad news was a bitter pil to swallow. But this is top sports and injuries are unfortunately a part of it. I’m recovering now and will be back in training soon. I want to thank my opponent Khalil for preparing for me and i wish him best of luck on December 30th. I want to thank all my fans/supporters for their great messages and i promise you 2018 i will give you KNOCK-OUTS! One knee, no knee, i will be there violently!!!! Sizlerin de bildi?i üzere, UFC 219’da dövü?meyece?im. Her ne kadar bu kötü haberi sizlerle payla?an ilk ki?i olmak isteseydim de mental olarak toparlanmaya ihtiyac?m vard?. Antrenman s?ras?nda geçirdi?im sakatl?k üzerine hastaneye gitmem gerekti. Ekibim, doktorlar?n tedavi olmam gerekti?i görü?ünü dikkate alarak bu karar? ald?. Kabul etmek zor olsa da sa?l???m? ilk planda tutmam gerekiyor. Bu dövü?ü büyük bir heyecanla bekliyordum ve dövü?emeyecek olmak bana sevenlerimi yar? yolda b?rakt???m? hissettirdi. Bunun üstesinden gelmek oldukça zordu. Ancak kabul etmek gerekiyor ki sakatl?k da üst düzey sporlar?n bir parças?. ?u anda tedavi sürecindeyim ve yak?n zamanda antrenmanlara ba?layaca??m. Rakibim Khalil’e bu maça haz?rland??? için te?ekkür ediyor ve kendisine 30 Aral?k’taki mücadelesinde ba?ar?lar diliyorum. Ve siz tüm sevenlerime, destekçilerime de?erli mesajlar?n?z için te?ekkür ediyorum. 2018’de hepinize KNOCK-OUT sözüm var! Gerekirse bir dizimle ya da dizim olmadan, her ?eyimle orada olaca??m!!! #ufc219 #ufc #kickboxing #boxing #mma #comeback #recovery #2018 #gokhansaki #fighter #fans #smile #power #knockouts #tur #turkiye #usa #lasvegas #la #hollywood #rotterdam #schiedam #fitdutchies #fit #healthy #türkiye

A post shared by Gokhan Saki (@gokhansaki) on Nov 29, 2017 at 10:00am PST

UFC newcomer Michal Oleksiejczuk will be stepping up to replace Saki against Rountree.
The 27-year-old Rountree is coming off back-to-back first-round knockout wins over Daniel Jolly. and most recently Paul Craig.

Oleksiejczuk hasn’t lost a fight in over two years. The 22-year-old Pole is 12-2 in MMA, riding a nine-fight win streak that includes 7 KO wins.

Via MMAFighting, the current UFC 219 fight card is as follows:

Cris Cyborg vs. Holly Holm

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Edson Barboza

Jimmie Rivera vs. John Lineker

Carlos Condit vs. Neil Magny

Khalil Rountree vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk

Cynthia Calvillo vs. Carla Esparza

Myles Jury vs. Rick Glenn

Dan Hooker vs. Marc Diakiese

Louis Smolka vs. Matheus Nicolau

Marvin Vettori vs. Omari Akhmedov

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