April’s UFC pay-per-view event sees a pair of changes to the lineup.
Due to visa issues, Nassourdine Imavov will no longer compete against Kelvin Gastelum, the promotion officially announced on Monday. The fight has been canceled from the card and there will be no replacement opponent for Gastelum.
Imavov (11-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC), 26, will have to wait a little longer to compete in his first fight of 2022, as he was anticipating the opportunity to extend his current win streak to three straight.
The former middleweight title challenger Gastelum (16-8 MMA, 11-8-1 UFC), 30, has not competed since August, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Jared Cannonier, and would have looked to snap a two-fight skid.
It is unclear if the bout will be rebooked at a later date or if the promotion will move on to a different matchup.
While one fight is lost, another is gained in a previously canceled heavyweight matchup. At UFC on ESPN 33, Ilir Latifi was scheduled to face Aleksei Oleinik, but the fight fell apart just hours before the event. Latifi was forced to pull out of the fight with a non-COVID-related illness. The promotion moved quickly to reschedule the bout, and it will now take place at the pay-per-view event which is headed by two title fights.
With the changes, the UFC 273 lineup now includes:
- Alexander Volkanovski vs. Chan Sung Jung – for the featherweight title
- Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan – for the bantamweight title
- Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Tecia Torres
- Irene Aldana vs. Aspen Ladd
- Ian Garry vs. Darian Weeks
- Dricus Du Plessis vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Marcin Tybura
- Ilir Latifi vs. Aleksei Oleinik
- Mickey Gall vs. Mike Malott
- Pat Sabatini vs. Gavin Tucker
- Julio Arce vs. Daniel Santos
- Mark Madsen vs. Vinc Pichel
- Kay Hansen vs. Piera Rodriguez
