Matt Brown has suffered an ankle injury which has forced him out of his TUF: Latin America 2 Finale headlining fight with Kelvin Gastelum in Mexico on November 21st.
The injury isn’t severe, so Brown won’t be out of action for too long, but with the event only a few weeks away there just wasn’t enough time for him to recover and get back to full fitness.
“Sorry to confirm the truth here,” Brown wrote on Twitter after the news first broke. “I apologize to @KelvinGastelum and hope the best for him.”
“Heal up boss!” Gastelum replied. “Hope all is well and blessings to you and your family.”
The UFC are believed to be actively seeking out a possible new opponent for Gastelum on short notice to keep him on the card.
Gastelum himself has tried to coax Tyron Woodley into giving him a rematch on social media, but was met with a firm rebuttal.
Apparently Woodley didn’t take too kindly to the “open invitation” to fight again, stating that it “seemed ungrateful” for him to even ask after he’d sent Gastelum back the money that he’d been awarded when the TUF winner was fined for coming in 9lbs overweight prior to their first fight in January of this year.
Following that fight, which ended by split decision, the UFC forced Gastelum to move up to middleweight, but after just one victory in the decision over Nate Marquardt at UFC 188 in June the 24 year-old has now been given another opportunity to prove that he can still compete at welterweight where he’s currently ranked No.15.
