Australia's Robert Whittaker will get the chance to fight for gold for the first time in his UFC career, after it was announced on Wednesday afternoon that he will face off against Yoel Romero for the interim middleweight championship.
Taking the place of a scheduled bantamweight title bout between Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw which was scrapped due Garbrandt sustaining a back injury, Whittaker now faces the 40-year-old Cuban for the belt.
"This is the objective. This was always the goal, and now I'm there. I'm just really stoked ... really happy," said Whittaker.
In the UFC, an interim championship is created when the champion at a certain weight class is sidelined through injury - in this case, top middleweight Michael Bisping's clash with the legendary Georges St-Pierre has been delayed.
When that fight eventually takes place, the winner will take on the winner of the Whittaker/Romero bout to unify the titles.
If victorious, the 26-year-old will become the first Australian win a title in the UFC promotion, and the significance of that is not lost on him.
"That means everything to me. To be able to represent the country on the world stage is the highest honour for me."
Despite being given just six weeks' notice, Whittaker says there will be no changes to his camp or pre-fight preparations.
"Straight up after the last fight, I got straight back into the routine, same as always. It's just another fight - but I keep constantly training so if things like this happen, I'm not caught out."
Romero was an extremely decorated freestyle wrestler before making the transition across to MMA, grabbing an Olympic silver medal in Sydney on top of a host of other accolades at the Wrestling World Cup and various world championship meets.
He has yet to face defeat in the UFC, going a perfect 8-0. Whittaker is also undefeated since moving up to that weight class.
Both have attained wins against Brazil's Jacare Souza recently, but the Aussie doesn't think his impressive knockout (compared with Romero's split decision win in 2015) gives him an advantage.
"Not at all. He's a tough dude, every fight is different. I'm going to go into this fight expecting a 25 minute war, but hopefully it goes better than that!"
Only two of the Australian's six middleweight clashes have gone the distance, and he won via a unanimous decision each time. The other four fights all ended early, with Whittaker given bonuses for either 'Fight of the Night' or 'Performance of the Night' in each.
"I'm just gonna be me. I'm gonna put my skill set on him - whether it stops him or not, I'm gonna give it a good crack! If I can bring the gold back for Australia, it's everything."
Whittaker becomes the third Australian to fight for gold inside the UFC's octagon, after Mark Hunt and Elvis Sinsonic.
The fight was added to co-headline an already stacked card for July 8th in Las Vegas, set to share the spotlight with a women's bantamweight title fight between challenger Valentina Shevchenko and champion Amanda Nunes.
Nunes famously knocked out Ronda Rousey with a flurry of punches in under a minute in late 2016.
UFC 213 will kick-off at 10am (AEDT) on Sunday, July 9th.
