Gokhan Saki Out, Michal Oleksiejczuk In At UFC 219

Gokhan Saki has suffered an undisclosed injury and he is off the upcoming UFC 219 card, replacing him against Khalil Rountree is going to be Michal Oleksiejczuk.

Saki announced the news about his withdraw through Instagram:

 

As has been announced everywhere, i’m not fighting on the UFC 219 card. I wanted to announce this myself but i needed some time to recover mentally from this bad news. I got injured during a training and went to the hospital for this. My team and management took the decision with the medical team that i needed treatment and i have to think of my health first. I didn’t want to accept this but i’m glad i have the right people around me. It felt like i let my fans and supporters down, i was really looking forward to this fight. So the bad news was a bitter pil to swallow. But this is top sports and injuries are unfortunately a part of it. I’m recovering now and will be back in training soon. I want to thank my opponent Khalil for preparing for me and i wish him best of luck on December 30th. I want to thank all my fans/supporters for their great messages and i promise you 2018 i will give you KNOCK-OUTS! One knee, no knee, i will be there violently!!!! Sizlerin de bildiği üzere, UFC 219’da dövüşmeyeceğim. Her ne kadar bu kötü haberi sizlerle paylaşan ilk kişi olmak isteseydim de mental olarak toparlanmaya ihtiyacım vardı. Antrenman sırasında geçirdiğim sakatlık üzerine hastaneye gitmem gerekti. Ekibim, doktorların tedavi olmam gerektiği görüşünü dikkate alarak bu kararı aldı. Kabul etmek zor olsa da sağlığımı ilk planda tutmam gerekiyor. Bu dövüşü büyük bir heyecanla bekliyordum ve dövüşemeyecek olmak bana sevenlerimi yarı yolda bıraktığımı hissettirdi. Bunun üstesinden gelmek oldukça zordu. Ancak kabul etmek gerekiyor ki sakatlık da üst düzey sporların bir parçası. Şu anda tedavi sürecindeyim ve yakın zamanda antrenmanlara başlayacağım. Rakibim Khalil’e bu maça hazırlandığı için teşekkür ediyor ve kendisine 30 Aralık’taki mücadelesinde başarılar diliyorum. Ve siz tüm sevenlerime, destekçilerime değerli mesajlarınız için teşekkür ediyorum. 2018’de hepinize KNOCK-OUT sözüm var! Gerekirse bir dizimle ya da dizim olmadan, her şeyimle orada olacağım!!! #ufc219 #ufc #kickboxing #boxing #mma #comeback #recovery #2018 #gokhansaki #fighter #fans #smile #power #knockouts #tur #turkiye #usa #lasvegas #la #hollywood #rotterdam #schiedam #fitdutchies #fit #healthy #türkiye

A post shared by Gokhan Saki (@gokhansaki) on Nov 29, 2017 at 10:00am PST

Rountree (6-2-0) enters the fight on the strength of a two fight winning streak, defeating the duo of Daniel Jolly and Paul Craig, with both of those wins coming by knockout. . Rountree also competed on the UFC Ultimate Fighter 23, defeating Josh Stansbury and losing to Cory Hendricks on the reality show. Rountree also competed four times in the Resurrection Fight Alliance, defeating Blake Troop, Livingston Lukow, Cameron Olson and Justin Polendey.

Oleksiejczuk (12-2-0) is going to be making his UFC debut in this fight and does so on the strength of a nine fight winning streak. Oleksiejczuk is also a former Thunderstrike Fight League Light Heavyweight Champion, a title he now relinquishes after signing with the UFC. Oleksiejczuk has only seen three of his professional MMA fights go the distance and the fighter earned victories in all of those bouts.

UFC 219 takes place on Saturday, December 30 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Cyborg and Holly Holm headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.