Fighter will not lose title

ROBERT Whittaker will not be stripped of his middleweight title — despite having now withdrawn from consecutive Australian title fights — thanks largely to his still wanting to throw down minutes before undergoing two bouts of emergency surgery early on Sunday morning.

Slated to headline UFC 234 in Melbourne yesterday, Whittaker was instead rushed to hospital at 3am suffering both twisted and collapsed bowel, plus an internal hernia of the intestine. UFC president Dana White said the 28-yearold had to be convinced by wife Sofia and father Jack not to take the Rod Laver Arena bout, especially after surgeons explained that a body shot from American challenger Kelvin Gastelum could kill him.

His manager, Titus Day, also said Whittaker was wanting to fight “about five minutes before going under the knife”.

Yet despite the champ’s attitude, and the seriousness of his injury, Gastelum suggested he should be awarded the title via forfeit — “I turned up to fight” — and, to make his point, sat cageside throughout the event with a UFC belt (borrowed from close friend and flyweight champ Henry Cejudo) slung over his shoulder.

Rising New Zealand star Israel Adesanya also used his Octagon interview after beating Brazilian great Anderson Silva to say: “I showed up to work, a lot of people didn’t.”

None of that washed with the UFC boss, however.

“Listen, Rob Whittaker got hurt,” he said. “His colon and intestine popped through his stomach, so I think we can give him a pass on not showing up to work.”