Robert Whittaker was forced out of the UFC 221 main event with a mistreated staph infection, UFC president Dana White told TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter.

Speaking after the UFC 220 main event, White said that the recently crowned middleweight champion could miss significant time due to the ailment.

“He had Staph infection in his stomach and from what I understand it wasn’t treated properly and started to eat away at parts of his organs,” White told TSN.  “He’s in serious condition, so it’s going to be a minute before he’s back.”

Whittaker was elevated from interim to undisputed middleweight champion after Canadian Georges St-Pierre vacated the belt due to his battle with colitis.

“Hopefully it turns around quick, but that stuff is life threatening if it’s not treated the right way,” said White.

The 27-year-old captured the interim middleweight title with a victory over Yoel Romero at UFC 213 last July.

The Australian resident was scheduled to make his first title defence against Luke Rockhold at UFC 221 which is being held in Perth, Australia.

I would like to apologize to all my supporters and fans of MMA for not being able to put on the show you deserve. I've been ruled medically unable to compete and wont be able to defend on home soil. This card meant so much to me and I'm devastated for not being able to fight. All I can do is focus on getting healthy to come back better than ever. All the best to Yoel and Luke for their fight and ill be waiting...

A post shared by Robert Whittaker (@robwhittakermma) on