Whittaker's incredible courage to fight through injury

Rob Whittaker's historic victory at UFC 213 is all the more remarkable after the revelation that the Aussie was fighting while badly injured.

Whittaker beat Yoel Romero in a unanimous points decision victory in his interim middleweight title fight in Las Vegas.

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All three judges scored it 48-47 to Whittaker, who later revealed he suffered a nasty knee injury in the very first round.

Whittaker injured his knee after a kick from Romero, and fell behind early as the 2000 silver medalist for Cuba in the Sydney Olympics, took him down several times and worked him over from the top.

The Aussie could easily have used the injury as an excuse for a loss, but he somehow managed to dominate the last three rounds of the fight, pinning the Cuban to the floor in the final minute to hold on.

"My knee was definitely hurt," he said after the fight.

"I injured it in camp and Romero's kick set it back weeks.

"I know that Romero will capitalise on any weakness he sees so I had to play it off.

"That’s just what champions are made of."

Whittaker, a New Zealand-born Australian, has now won eight fights in a row, with back-to-back stoppage victories over top contenders Jacare Souza and Derek Brunson coming into this bout.

He is now the interim 185-pound champion while Michael Bisping recovers from injury.

with AAP