The first UFC card of 2023 underwent a major change Monday.
Kelvin Gastelum is out of his main event bout against Nassourdine Imavov at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 217 in Las Vegas due to a mouth injury.
Sean Strickland has stepped up on short notice and will take on Imavov. The bout will remain five rounds, but now is to be contested a weight class above, at light heavyweight.
Two people with knowledge of the change confirmed it Monday to MMA Junkie after an initial report by ESPN. The UFC officially announced the change minutes afterward.
A disappointed Gastelum posted a statement on Twitter in the wake of the news, in which he apologized to all parties involved.
“I’m extremely disappointed to say the least,” Gastelum wrote. “This not how I wanted to start 2023. I worked my ass off & battled through a lot of adversary and was ready to put on a hell of a show this weekend. I apologize to Imavov, his camp as well as @ufc and all the fans.”
I’m extremely disappointed to say the least. This not how I wanted to start 2023.
I worked my ass off & battled through a lot of adversary and was ready to put on a hell of a show this weekend.
I apologize to Imavov, his camp as well as @ufc and all the fans. #OnAmission4Gold— #OnAmission4Gold (@KelvinGastelum) January 9, 2023
Imavov (12-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC), a main training partner of former UFC interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane, has won three fights in a row. After he stopped Heinisch in July, the 25-year-old Dagestan-born, France-based fighter scored a second-round TKO of fellow prospect Edmen Shahbazyan at UFC 268 in November. Imavov most recently defeated Joaquin Buckley at UFC Fight Night 209 in September.
Strickland (25-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC) is coming off a close decision loss to Jared Cannonier in December in the main event of UFC Fight Night 216. He’s now on a two-fight losing streak, as he was knocked out by now UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira in July. Prior to the pair of defeats, Strickland was on a six-fight wining streak.
With the change, the UFC Fight Night 217 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)
- Nassourdine Imavov vs. Sean Strickland
- Dan Ige vs. Damon Jackson
- Roman Kopylov vs. Punahele Soriano
- Raquel Pennington vs. Ketlen Vieira
- Raoni Barcelos vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Claudio Ribeiro
- Nick Fiore vs. Mateusz Rebecki
- Javid Basharat vs. Mateus Mendonca
- Carlos Hernandez vs. Allan Nascimento
- Daniel Argueta vs. Isaac Dulgarian
- Jimmy Flick vs. Charles Johnson
- Priscila Cachoeira vs. Sijara Eubanks
