Brian Melancon was scheduled to meet Robert Whittaker at UFC Fight Night 33 in two weeks, but the bout has been scratched from the card. 
The UFC initially announced that Melancon had suffered an undisclosed injury and the fight was scratched from the card.
Following the announcement of the fight being scratched, Melancon wrote on his Facebook page that kidney problems have forced him to call it a career.
“It has been announced, I am sad to say that my fight career is over,” Melancon wrote. “I have been having kidney problems that have gotten much worse recently and just found out that my kidney function has dropped to 47%. If I continue to train, fight, and cut weight then I run the risk of permanent damage. I have been advised by my Specialist to retire and move on and that is what I will be doing. This is not how I wanted to go out, but I have to believe that God has another path for me. Thanks to all of you who supported me throughout my career.”
With Melancon-Whittaker off the fight card, the card will move ahead with twelve fights.
UFC Fight Night 33 will take place from the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in on December 7th in Australia and will be headlined by Mark Hunt meeting Antonio Silva in a heavyweight bout. The event will air live in the United States on December 6th, due to the time difference between United States and Australia.
The current UFC Fight Night 33: Hunt vs. Silva card is below.
Mark Hunt (9-8) vs. Antonio Silva (18-5)
Mauricio Rua (21-8) vs. James Te Huna (16-6)
Soa Palelei (19-3) vs. Pat Barry (8-6)
Dylan Andrews (17-4, 1NC) vs. Clint Hester (8-3)
Anthony Perosh (14-7) vs. Ryan Bader (15-4)
Nick Ring (13-2) vs. Caio Magalhaes (6-1)
Nam Phan (18-11) vs. Takeya Mizugaki (18-7-2)
Bruno Santos (13-0) vs. Krzysztof Jotko (13-0)
Alex Caceres (9-5, 1NC) vs. Mitch Gagnon (10-2)
Richie Vaculik (9-1) vs. Justin Scoggins (7-0)
Alex Garcia (10-1) vs. Andreas Stahl (9-0)
Julie Kedzie (16-12) vs. Bethe Correia (6-0)