Kelvin Gastelum is not fighting at UFC 273 next weekend.
After suffering an undisclosed injury, Gastelum has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Dricus Du Plessis at the upcoming pay-per-view event. The UFC announced the news on Friday evening.
The No. 10 ranked middleweight contender was scheduled to fight Nassourdine Imavov, but the promising prospect withdrew over visa issues. Gastelum was then given a short-notice replacement in the aforementioned Du Plessis, who was originally expected to face Chris Curtis before ‘The Action Man’ sustained a wrist injury in training. ‘Stillknocks’ got paired against Anthony Hernandez, but was pulled from that fight once Gastelum was left without an opponent.
Now, both Gastelum and Du Plessis are officially off of the card. Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland reported that the South African will not receive a replacement.
Gastelum has gone 1-5 in his past six appearances. The 30-year-old snapped a three-fight losing streak with a unanimous decision over Ian Heinisch at UFC 258, but has dropped consecutive fights to Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier at UFC Vegas 24 and UFC Vegas 34, respectively.
Since joining the UFC, Du Plessis earned finishes over Markus Perez and Trevin Giles in his first two Octagon appearances.
UFC 273 moves forward with 13 confirmed bouts. The event takes place on Saturday, April 9 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. Headlining is a featherweight championship fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Chan Sung Jung, better known as ‘The Korean Zombie’.
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