Rob always up for fight

A SHOT at Commonwealth Games history was the last thing on Rob Whittaker’s mind a month ago.

Bedridden in a serious condition, the chance to become the first active UFC champion to compete at a Games was no longer top of the agenda.

Just returning to his successful mixed martial arts career seemed a stretch.

Whittaker’s two months from hell started in October with a hamstring injury, soon overshadowed by a staph infection in his stomach which, after initial mistreatment, started to attack other organs.

“That got out of control,” Whittaker said.

“Then I started turning a corner but the antibiotics dropped my immune system quite significantly and on the back of that I got chickenpox.

“The chickenpox was by far the worst, way worse than the staph – it was a nightmare.”

Whittaker, 27, took up freestyle wrestling in 2015 to give him an edge in UFC and jumped at a chance to represent his country in the sport.