Kelvin Gastelelum has resigned from UFC 273.
The veteran UFC middleweight has withdrawn from his scheduled bout against Dricus du Plessis on Friday after suffering an undisclosed injury, the UFC announced.
The news was confirmed by
MMA Fighting.
Gastelum had originally been scheduled to face up-and-coming opponent Nassourdine Imavov in UFC 273, but visa problems forced Imavov from the fight. Gastelum withdrew and Du Plessis responded as a replacement. However, du Plessis was also removed from UFC 273”s card.
Gastelum (16-8, 1 NC) remains in need of a win after losing five of his past six bouts, including a current two-fight losing streak at the hands of Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier.
Du Plessis (16-2), on the other hand, will have to wait for his chance to advance up the middleweight ranks after notching knockout wins over Markus Perez and Trevin Giles in his first two UFC bouts.
UFC 273 is set to take place April 9 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. The card is headlined by a pair of title fights, Alexander Volkanovski vs. Chan Sung Jung and Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan, as well as a featured welterweight bout between Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev.
MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck contributed to this report.
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