Kelvin Gastelum will fight Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 273

UFC middleweight Kelvin Gastelum gets a new short-notice opponent for his UFC 273 fight as his previously scheduled opponent Nassourdine Imavov has pulled out from their matchup due to visa issues. Now Gastelum will be fighting Dricus Du Plessis who is going to step up and fight on April 9, 2022, at UFC 273 on less than two weeks’ notice. The event will take place on April 9, 2022, at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. A UFC Featherweight Championship bout between current champion Alexander Volkanovski and former title challenger Chan Sung Jung will be headlining this card along with the bantamweight title rematch between former champ Petr Yan and current champion Aljamain Sterling in the co-main event. ESPN first reported the opponent change news.

UFC’s rising fighter Dricus Du Plessis was previously supposed to fight Anthony Hernandez on the same card but now he is set to face Kelvin. Anthony Hernandez now will be facing promotional newcomer Josh Fremd. Dricus Du Plessis will be having a huge challenge in front of him when he takes on Kelvin Gastelum. Du Plessis was first tagged with Chris Curtis for a matchup at UFC 273 but he pulled out due to an injury. Curtis was then replaced by Anthony Hernandez. The card has faced a lot of mishaps but finally, now the card is ready to go.

Kelvin Gastelum in his last fight faced Jared Cannonier on August 21, 2021, at UFC on ESPN 29. Gastelum lost the fight via unanimous decision. Before that, he had also faced a defeat against former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. His last win came against Ian Heinisch at UFC 258 on February 13, 2021. He won that fight via decision.

The fight will be an important matchup for both Kelvin Gastelum and Dricus Du Plessis as Kelvin would nat to get back to the win column whereas Dricus Du Plessis will want to score the biggest win of his career.