Australia’s Robert Whittaker is now the undisputed UFC middleweight champion with Georges St-Pierre vacating the title after recently being diagnosed with colitis.
Whittaker was crowned the interim champion when he outpointed Yoel Romero in July. GSP, the former long-time welterweight champion, came out of retirement just last month and snatched the title from the now former champion Michael Bisping, submitting the Brit in the third round.
Since then there was much speculation about whether the two would face each other however due to GSP’s battle with colitis the UFC middleweight division will move in another direction with the Aussie, 26, set to meet former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 221 in Perth.
After losing the title back in 2016 to Bisping, 33 year-old Rockhold bounced back with a dominant display against fellow American Dave Branch at UFC Fight Night 116 this past September.
MMA Fighting first reported the Whittaker vs. Rockhold pairing while the Daily Telegraph confirmed the additional information regarding GSP vacating the title.
UFC 221, the first UFC event in Western Australia, takes place at Perth Arena on February 11. Two other fights are already announced for the landmark event with Ben Nguyen facing Jussier Formiga and Tyson Pedro taking on Saparbek Safarov.
