Marvin Vettori needs a new opponent for UFC 275.
Tuesday night, Vettori (18-5-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) announced that Robert Whittaker (23-6 MMA, 14-4 UFC) is out of their June 11 matchup at Singapore Indoor Stadium. MMA Junkie confirmed the news with a person with knowledge of the matchup.
Looking for a replacement, Vettori proceeded to call out teammates Darren Till (18-4-1 MMA, 6-4-1 UFC) and Khamzat Chimaev (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) to step in.
“We’re back at this. I think I’m the only 185er that can say that has never pulled out of a fight but anyway smash boys I’ll get you back to back lets do it I’m willing to die just show up @KChimaev @darrentill2 @Mickmaynard2 @AliAbdelaziz00 @danawhite.”
Vettori and Till were scheduled to fight in the UFC on ABC 2 headliner last April, but Till withdrew due to a broken collarbone. Vettori faced Kevin Holland instead, defeating him to earn his first-career UFC title shot. Vettori ended up falling short to middleweight champion Israel Adesanya for a second time at UFC 263, but rebounded with a big win over ex-title challenger Paulo Costa in the UFC Fight Night 196 headliner this past October.
Costa offered to step in to rematch Vettori, who fought him in a light heavyweight bout after Costa had issues making the middleweight mark.
“Vettori needs a pair to fight? Oh really? Lol how funny is it ? send me the location dumbest.”
Till is coming off back-to-back losses to Whittaker, and most recently Derek Brunson in the UFC Fight Night 191 headliner. Meanwhile, his newly minted teammate Chimaev emerged as a welterweight contender when he outlasted Gilbert Burns at UFC 273 in a “Fight of the Night” war. Chimaev has already competed at middleweight twice in the UFC, but momentarily appears to be on the road to gold at 170 pounds.
The current UFC 275 lineup includes:
Champ Glover Teixeira vs. Jiri Prochazka – for light heavyweight title
Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Taila Santos – for women’s flyweight title
Marvin Vettori vs. TBA
Silvana Gomez Juarez vs. Na Liang
Brendan Allen vs. Jacob Malkoun
Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Zhang Weili