Although still three months away, Jon Fitch has been forced to pull out of his scheduled July 2 rematch with B.J. Penn at UFC 132 after suffering an injury in training.
Sherdog.com confirmed Fitch’s withdrawal with a source close to the situation on Wednesday afternoon. MMAWeekly.com first reported the injury.
No further information was available regarding the nature or severity of the welterweight’s injury.
Fitch and Penn’s first meeting at February’s UFC 127 in Sydney yielded a contentious majority draw despite a dominant final round which saw the former Purdue Boilermaker mash Penn on the mat. The rematch was set to take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Fitch, 33, has been a dominant staple in the UFC 170-pound division since joining the promotion in 2005. The American Kickboxing Academy has emerged victorious in 13 of his 15 Octagon outings, drawing only with Penn and losing only to current welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre.
