A fight between Kelvin Gastelum and Nassourdine Imavov has been removed from the UFC 273 event in Jacksonville, Florida on April 9th, but a replacement bout has already been arranged in it’s place.
Though his nationality is French, Imavov was born in Dagestan, Russia and is reported to have been unable to obtain a VISA to fight in the U.S. and that’s led to the fight being scrapped for now.
It’s not clear if Gastelum may still fight on the card against a short-notice replacement, but in the mean time the UFC have drafted in another fight to make up the numbers, with Ilir Latifi set to fight Oleksei Oleinik.
Latifi vs. Oleinik was actually supposed to take place last weekend at UFC On ESPN 33, but had to be cancelled on the day of the fight after Latifi took ill.
Latifi is looking to improve on his 1-1 record since moving up to heavyweight, while Oleinik seeks to break free of a three-fight losing streak.
With these changes, UFC 273 proceeds with a card that’s headlined by featherweight title action as Alexander Volkanovski fights The Korean Zombie, while bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling rematches his rival Petr Yan in the co-main event.
