A middleweight scrap pitting Kelvin
Gastelum against Nassourdine
Imavov is nearly finalized for UFC
273.
Gastelum announced via social media that he has signed a contract
for the bout, and
ESPN later confirmed that Imavov has agreed to the pairing, as
well. UFC 273 takes place on April 9 at an as yet to be determined
location and is headlined by a featherweight title clash between
Alexander
Volkanovski and Chan Sung
Jung.
Gastelum has struggled in recent years, posting a 1-5 record inside
the Octagon since 2019. However, “The Ultimate Fighter 17” winner
has faced only top competition during that time, falling to the
likes of Israel
Adesanya, Darren Till,
Jack
Hermansson, Robert
Whittaker and Jared
Cannonier. His lone victory in that stretch came via unanimous
decision against Ian
Heinisch at UFC 258.
A native of Paris, France, Imavov is a rising talent at 185 pounds
with a 3-1 record within the Las Vegas-based promotion. The MMA
Factory representative rebounded from a closely contested majority
decision loss against Phil Hawes
at UFC Fight Night 185 to post back-to-back TKO finishes of
Heinisch and Edmen
Shahbazyan in his last two outings.