Brian Melancon injury scraps bout with Robert Whittaker from UFC Fight Night 33 in Australia

The UFC’s return to Australia next month will go on minus one fight.

Brian Melancon (7-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has been forced out of his fight with “The Ultimate Fighter: Australia vs. U.K.” winner Robert Whittaker (11-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 33. That fight has been scrapped, and Whittaker will get a new opponent and be shifted to another card rather than getting to fight on his home turf.

Whittaker told MMAjunkie Radio of the fight’s cancellation on Wednesday’s show. UFC officials later announced the change.

UFC Fight Night 33 takes place Dec. 6 at Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Australia. The main card will air on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 2 and MMAjunkie.

After winning “TUF: U.K. vs. Australia,” Whittaker stopped “TUF 16? winner Colton Smith. But he was outpointed by another “TUF” winner, Season 11's Court McGee, in his most recent outing at UFC Fight Night 27 in Indianapolis

Melancon was looking to rebound after having a modest two-fight win streak snapped in August. He won his promotional debut at UFC 162 by knocking out Seth Baczynski with one second left in the first round in July. But at UFC Fight Night 27, he suffered a submission loss to “TUF 17? winner Kelvin Gastelum.

With the change in the card, UFC Fight Night 33 now includes:

• Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva
• Mauricio Rua vs. James Te-Huna
• Pat Barry vs. Soa Palelei
• Dylan Andrews vs. Clint Hester
• Ryan Bader vs. Anthony Perosh
• Caio Magalhaes vs. Nick Ring
• Takeya Mizugaki vs. Nam Phan
• Krzysztof Jotko vs. Bruno Santos
• Bethe Correia vs. Julie Kedzie
• Alex Caceres vs. Mitch Gagnon
• Alex Garcia vs. Andreas Stahl
• Justin Scoggins vs. Richie Vaculik

For the latest on UFC Fight Night 33, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Robert Whittaker)