UFC News: Gokhan Saki forced to withdraw from UFC 219

What’s the story?

UFC Light Heavyweight Gokhan Saki suffered an injury in training and was forced to withdraw from his fight against Khalil Rountree at UFC 219.

In case you didn’t know…

Gokhan Saki is a kickboxing legend and his return to MMA after a 13-year gap was met with much fanfare. His UFC debut came earlier this year at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan where he knocked out Luis Henrique da Silva in the very first round.

Many of his fans were excited to see his long-awaited first match on US soil against fellow light heavyweight Khalil Rountree - who was on a two-match win streak - at the year ending UFC 219.

The heart of the matter

After his win in Japan, Saki in his post-match interview said that he needed to make a lot of improvements to his game as conditioning for MMA fights was much different to what he was used to as a Kickboxer. He took to Instagram to explain what transpired and why he had to pull out of this bout.

Disappointed at having to withdraw from the event, Saki promised his fans that he will be back in 2018 while thanking and wishing his opponent the very best for the event.

What’s next?

Khalil Rountree keeps his spot on the card and a replacement for Saki has been announced in the form of 22-year-old Polish newcomer, Michal Oleksiejczuk.

Author's take

The end of the year cards are generally meant to be blockbuster cards and while UFC 219 has some pretty interesting matchups, losing the Saki fight takes some sheen out of it especially after the targetted return of Conor McGregor failed to materialise.

For now, we'll just have to wait and see when 'The Rebel' makes his return to the octagon.