Kelvin Gastelum will no longer be fighting at UFC 273 after all.
Gastelum was originally supposed to take on Nassourdine Imavov but the Frenchman was removed from the fight due to visa issues. The expectation was the fight would be moved to UFC 274 but Gastelum wanted to remain on April’s pay-per-view fight card. With that, he agreed to face Dricus Du Plessis. However, now on Friday, the UFC announced the TUF winner has been forced out of the bout due to an injury.
The news is no doubt surprising as Gastelum just did an interview with The Underground where he said he took the fight as he had an amazing training camp and wanted to compete. Unfortnately, that is all for not as he sustained an injury and will not be able to compete.
“But then I was just kind of sitting back after a training session and I was like, ‘Man, I put in so much effort, so much time,” Gastelum said. “I moved out here to Arizona for this, and like, I don’t want to let it go to waste,’ you know?… This was an amazing training camp. Put in a lot of effort, a lot of thought, not just me, but a group of people behind me. We all collectively put in a lot of effort and work into this camp, so I wasn’t going to let it go to waste.”
When Gastelum will be able to return to the Octagon is uncertain. But, when he does he will likely be rebooked against either Imavov or Du Plessis who will now be without an opponent at UFC 273.
Kelvin Gastelum (16-8 and one No Contest) is just 1-5 in his last six and on a two-fight skid as he has lost back-to-back main event decisions to Jared Cannonier and Robert Whittaker. His lone win during this stretch is a decision victory over Ian Heinisch while he lost to Darren Till, Jack Hermansson, and Israel Adesanya for the interim belt.
With Gastelum vs. Du Plessis being off the card, UFC 273 is as follows:
- Alexander Volkanovski vs. Korean Zombie
- Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan
- Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Tecia Torres
- Ian Garry vs. Darian Weeks
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Marcin Tybura
- Aspen Ladd vs. Raquel Pennington
- Mickey Gall vs. Mike Mallot
- Vinc Pichel vs. Mark O. Madsen
- Aleksei Oleinik vs. Jared Vanderaa
- Anthony Hernandez vs. Josh Fremd
- Kay Hansen vs. Piera Rodriguez
- Julio Arce vs. Daniel Santos
Who would you like to see Kelvin Gastelum fight once he is healthy?