Robert Whittaker released from hospital following surgery, targets summer UFC return

After Robert Whittaker was forced out of his headlining title fight against Kelvin Gastelum — which was set to go down last Saturday night (Feb. 9, 2019) at UFC 234 — after undergoing emergency surgery for a twisted bowl and internal hernia, “The Reaper” is now out of the hospital.

That’s according to his manager Titus Day, who told ESPN that the current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion of the world is targeting a return to action this summer.

“I’d say he’ll be able to fight next sometime between June and August depending on recovery,” Day said. “Hopefully closer to June.”

As a result of Robert’s inability to take part in the pay-per-view (PPV) event in his backyard of Australia, Gastelum proceeded to crown himself the new 185-pound champion. While it’s easy to brand the former Ultimate Fighter (TUF) winner’s antics nothing more than a troll job, he’s sticking to his guns.

That said, Kelvin didn’t go home empty-handed, as the promotion reportedly cut him a six-figure check for showing up to fight. Furthermore, Gastleum should now find comfort in knowing he could be lined for a fight against Whittaker in the coming months.

This sounds like a good landing spot.

That means there will likely not be an interim title fight between Kelvin and Israel Adesanya, who dusted Anderson Silva in the revamped main event of UFC 234.