The ever-informed Ariel Helwani reports for MMA Fighting that interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will fight Luke Rockhold at UFC 221 on February 11, 2018, at Perth Arena in Perth, Western Australia.
Former division champion Georges St-Pierre said he didn’t think he will stay at 185, and has now vacated the title.
“My fight at UFC 217 was one of the greatest nights of my life but I now need to take some time to focus on my health, said St-Pierre, who is reportedly suffering from colitis. Out of respect to the athletes and the sport, I don’t want to hold up the division. I will be giving up my belt and once I’m healthy I look forward to working with the UFC to determine what’s next in my career.
GSP now holds the odd distinction of being the first fighter to vacate the title in two different weight divisions. His welterweight title reign lasted 2,064 days, the second longest in UFC history, while his middleweight title reign was just 31 days, the shortest in UFC history. Being just one of four fighters to win belts in two divisions, GSP is one of the greatest fighters in the sport’s history.
UFC president Dana White may be not impressed.
I don’t want to hear that,” said White on 11/28, as transcribed by Mike Chiappetta. “That’s not what I want to hear. I want to hear he’s going to defend his 185-pound title. That’s the agreement we made. That’s the deal we made when we made the deal … I’m going to be super-pissed.”
However, with 185 causing health issues, GSP is now heading down, and the obvious fight is GSP vs. Conor McGregor for the money belt. That would make White happy.
Whittaker vs. Rockhold bout will now be for the unified title.
Whittaker is on an eight-fight win streak, earning performance bonuses in each of the past three, and winning the interim title by defeating Yoel Romero at UFC 213 in July. He currently holds down the #12 spot in the UFC’s Pound for Pound rankings.
Rockhold lost his second fight, a decade ago, and then put together a nine-fight win streak, earning and twice defending the Strikeforce middleweight championship. He then lost to Vitor Belfort during the unfortunate TRT era of the sport, but rebounded with a five-fight win streak, that included winning the UFC middleweight championship. He lost to Michael Bisping in his first title defense, and rebounded with a win over David Branch in September. Bisping defended once successfully vs. Dan Henderson, and then lost to GSP, who sounds like he will vacate the title, leaving Rockhold to challenge for the unified belt.
