Darren Till's scheduled fight on April 10 against Marvin Vettori is off after the Brit was diagnosed with a broken collarbone.
Reports suggest Kevin Holland, who fought just 10 days ago in a defeat to Derek Brunson, will step up to replace Till at short notice, though the UFC have yet to confirm this.
“Every person who is around me or who has been around me knows I train on a daily basis with f—ed up knees, lower back, shoulders, hands and the list goes on," said a heartbroken Till on social media.
“Yesterday while drilling I fell and straight away I knew I’d broken something. To say I’m f—ing destroyed by it is an understatement.
“I’ve literally put my heart, soul, mind, physical body, cash, nutrition, sleep, recovery and then some into making sure I went out there next week and took his head off. And I was 100 per cent sure I was going to… and with ease!!!
“I’m sure he was thinking the same but ahh well.”
The news continues Vettori's incredible streak of bad luck when it comes to opponent withdrawals. Seven of his last 11 fights have now been called off, with all seven being due to his opponent pulling out, not him.
He lost to Israel Adesanya, now the current middleweight champion, in April of 2018 but has embarked on a four-fight win streak since.
Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman recently admitted a victory for Till would have likely earned him a title fight with "The Last Stylebender".
“There’s no Marvin Vettori, there’s no Paulo Costa. There’s Darren Till,” Bareman told Submission Radio. “Darren Till needs to win.
"The problem with middleweight at the moment is Israel has gotten himself into a position where he’s cleaned it out a little bit. So, there’s Robert, who’s right there and who’s trudging his way back, who’s grinding his way back. But Darren Till is the front-runner there.”