2023 has gotten off to a chaotic start in mixed martial arts (MMA).
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto confirmed today (Mon., Jan. 9, 2023) that the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event of the year has suffered a main event change right at the start of fight week. Kelvin Gastelum (17-8) has been injured out of his headlining clash against Nassourdine Imavov (12-3) this weekend (Sat., Jan. 14, 2023) and will be replaced by Sean Strickland (25-5). The bout’s weight class has been elevated from Middleweight to Light Heavyweight.
“Kelvin Gastelum had to withdraw from his fight vs Nassourdine Imavov after taking an incidental knee in practice this afternoon,” Reported Michael Wonsover on Twitter. “@KelvinGastelum did everything in his power to make the fight, but ultimately had to drop out. He’s in good spirits and recovering.”
Strickland closed out 2022 as one-half of the main event for the last UFC event of the year on Dec. 17, 2022. “Tarzan” came up short via a closely fought split decision with Jared Cannonier that he feels he should have gotten the nod in.
UFC Vegas 67 marks the rising Imavov’s first time in a UFC main event as he looks to extend his impressive winning streak to four straight.
The full UFC Vegas 67 lineup can be seen here.
UFC Vegas 67 Main Card On ESPN+ (7 p.m. ET):
- 205 lbs.: Nassourdine Imavov vs. Sean Strickland
- 145 lbs.: Dan Ige vs. Damon Jackson
- 185 lbs.: Punahele Soriano vs. Roman Kopylov
- 135 lbs.: Raquel Pennington vs. Ketlen Vieira
- 135 lbs.: Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Raoni Barcelos
UFC Vegas 67 Prelims Card On ESPN+ (4 p.m. ET):
- 185 lbs.: Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Claudio Ribeiro
- 155 lbs.: Mateusz Rebecki vs. Nick Fiore
- 135 lbs.: Javid Basharat vs. Mateus Mendonca
- 125 lbs.: Carlos Hernandez vs. Allan Nascimento
- 145 lbs.: Daniel Argueta vs. Isaac Dulgarian
- 125 lbs.: Charles Johnson vs. Jimmy Flick
- 135 lbs.: Priscila Cachoeira vs. Sijara Eubanks
- 145 lbs.: Jarno Errens vs. David Onama
*Fight card, bout order and number of fights remain subject to change.*
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