Neck injury forces Alan Jouban out of UFC Hamburg fight against Danny Roberts

Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight Alan Jouban announced he won’t be facing Danny Roberts in Germany next weekend. The four-time UFC “Fight of the Night” winner took to Instagram on Thursday to reveal a nagging neck injury that may require surgery to correct.

Jouban (16-6) and Roberts were set to fight on the Fox Sports 1-televised main card of UFC Fight Night 134 on July 22, but a bulging disc in Jouban’s neck forced the 36-year-old off of the card, as first reported by MMA Today.

FIGHT CANCELLED! Well, if you didn’t already know I had to cancel my fight next weekend due to injury. Looks like a bulged disc in my neck but won’t know for certain till the MRI. Sorry folks. Believe me, I wanted nothing more than to roll into Germany and steal the damn show with with a crazy ass fight and fly home with a bonus in my pocket. But just wasn’t meant to be this time. As soon as I’m good to go, I do plan on getting right back to where I left off and taking the quickest fight I can find. Still have goals to meet this year and that’s not changing. Just gonna take a little longer, but still gonna get there.

A post shared by ALAN JOUBAN (@alanjouban) on Jul 12, 2018 at 2:04pm PDT

The Louisiana native is coming off of a blistering second-round knockout victory over Ben Saunders in February, while Roberts bounced back from a quick loss to Nordine Taleb with a first-round knockout of Oliver Enkamp in March.

According to Jouban, an MRI is next to determine the severity of the disc injury, while the UFC works to replace him in time for UFC Fight Night 134 in Hamburg. The event will be headlined by a light heavyweight clash between former divisional champion Mauricio Rua and Anthony Smith.