Reigning UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman reportedly suffered a knee injury which forced the mixed martial arts promotion company to postpone his title defense in the upcoming UFC 173.

The 29-year-old Weidman was supposed to defend his title against former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and karate specialist Lyoto Machida in the pay-per-view event which will be held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 24, according to the Washington Post.

Following the news of Weidman's injury, the UFC announced Monday that the title match between him and Machida has been moved to UFC 175 instead, which will take place on July 5 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Weidman, who will undergo minor surgery for his injury, was awarded the middleweight title during his match against Anderson Silva in UFC 162 last July 6, 2013. Weidman won the fight via knockout at the 1:18 mark of the second round. The two met again at UFC 168 for Weidman's first title defense which resulted in a gruesome leg injury for 'The Spider.'

On the other hand, Machida's journey to the title shot for the middleweight division started with his impressive knock-out win via head-kick to Mark Munoz during the UFC Fight Night 30 held in Oct. 26 of last year, Sherdog reports.

He then faced-off against Gerard Mousasi in UFC Fight Night 36 last month. Machida won the five-round bout against the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion via unanimous decision.   

Vitor Belfort was supposed to fight Weidman for the title in UFC 173 but when the Brazilian fighter withdrew from the match, he was replaced by Machida.

The main event for the UFC 173 is still listed as 'to be determined' but is confirmed to feature matches between heavyweights Junior dos Santos and Stipe Miocic, and T.J. Dillashaw against Takeya Mizugaki for the bantamweight division. The event will also have two lightweight matches between Tony Ferguson and Katsunori Kikuno, and Jamie Varner and James Krause.