Gastelum vs. Imavov Headlines 1st Fight Night of 2023
The UFC’s first Fight Night event of 2023 has been announced and will see a top 15 showdown at middleweight.
The five-round headliner will see former interim title challenger number eleven ranked Kelvin Gastelum (17-8) against number twelve ranked Nassourdine Imavov (12-3).
Gastelum burst on to the UFC scene in 2012 submitting Uriah Hall to win TUF 17. After some time down at welterweight with great results in the cage but struggles on the scale Gastelum returned to 185 lbs. With wins in three of his first four fights in the weight class Gastleum was positioned to fight for the interim title. His war with Israel Adesanya at UFC 236 is still considered the best middleweight title fight in UFC history. By the time he steps foot in the octagon it will be sixteen months between fights.
Imavov went 1-1 in his first two UFC fights both going to the decision. The Russian who trains out of France has turned things around ripping off three straight wins. Two of the wins, over Ian Heinisch & Edman Shahbazyan both coming by TKO’s from ground strikes. The 26-year-old will head into his first main event coming off a decision win over Joaquin Buckley in front of his adopted hometown fans.
The card which is expected to take place at the Apex will also see Jimmy Flick coming out of retirement for a dual with Jeff Molina.
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