Kelvin Gastelum Ruled Out of UFC 273 Bout Against Dricus Du Plessis Due to an Undisclosed Injury, UFC Announced on Friday

UFC is all set for its next pay-per-view event, UFC 273, on Sunday, 9 April 2022. However, despite many efforts to fix a fight for Dricus Du Plessis and Kelvin Gastelum, UFC has to go on without the two fighters performing in the cage.

Alexander Volkanovski and ‘The Korean Zombie’ who will face off for the featherweight title will headline the PPV event. UFC also scheduled a bantamweight title unification bout between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan.

UFC 273 won’t be the same for Kelvin Gastelum fans as he pulled out of the fight because of an undisclosed injury. Sadly, Dricus Du Plessis won’t be on the UFC 273 card after three different fighters backed out of the fight.

Initially, Du Plessis was scheduled to face off with Chris Curtis. Although, the fight had to be canceled after Curtis withdrew due to an injury.

Later on, UFC pitted ‘Stillknocks’ against Anthony Hernandez, but later re-booked both fighters for a different fight.

Gastelum was to face Massourdine Imavov initially, but Imavov had to pull out due to visa issues. UFC then rescheduled Hernandez to face promotional debutant Josh Fremd and booked Du Plessis for a face-off with Gastelum.

However, all efforts went in vain, as UFC announced on Friday that Kelvin Gastelum announced he will not make it to the April 9 event. As a result, even Dricus Du Plessis will have to sit this one out and wait longer for a fight.

Read More: UFC 273: Alexander Volkanovski vs The Korean Zombie – Timings, Fight Card, Live Stream & Venue

UFC 273: Best fights to look out for

Despite losing one interesting matchup from the main card of the UFC 273 PPV event in Jacksonville, Florida, it is still a stacked card with loads of brute force and technique in its artillery.

The main card has two title bouts in the featherweight and the bantamweight division. Alexander Volkanovski will defend his featherweight title against Chan Sung Jung. 

Meanwhile, bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and interim champion Petr Yan will face off to unify the 135lbs division belt. Interestingly, Sterling became the champion after a disqualification (illegal knee strike) win over Petr ‘No Mercy’ Yan.

It also incorporated a highly anticipated fight between star welterweight fighters Khamzat Chimaev and Gilbert Burns. ‘Borz’ is one of the top prospects in the division, but he has to prove himself against second-ranked Burns. 

Fans are also looking forward to the women’s bantamweight bout between #4 Aspen Ladd and #7  Raquel Pennington on the prelims card. Notably, Pennington is on a three-fight winning streak coming into UFC 273.

Who should be the next opponent for Dricus Du Plessis after an unlucky UFC 273? Share your suggestions in the comments down below.

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