Kelvin Gastelum returns for his ‘mission for gold’ as he comes out of a 16-month layoff in January 2023 against Imavov

Seems like there’s a route to visit the expectation of Kelvin Gastelum‘s return now. Gastelum is the former interim-UFC title challenger and has defeated the likes of Michael Bisping, Ronaldo Souza, Tim Kennedy, Johny Hendricks, Nate Marquardt, Jake Ellenberger, Rick Story, Uriah Hall and many more. He last fought in August 2021 when he lost to former UFC title challenger Jared Cannonier via decision.

Ever since then, Gastelum has undergone recovering from an injury that sidelined his career for nearly one-and-a-half years now, rest assured, he is not making his return this year as well. Other than that, Gastelum’s career lately has been nothing short of downfalls, he is 1-5 in his last 6 outings, however, losing to the likes of Cannonier, Israel Adesanya, Darren Till, Jack Hermansson and Robert Whittaker.

Now, as first reported by La Sueur in France, Gastelum will make his return in the opening month of 2023 when he will face MMA Factory prospect Nassourdine Imavov in the main-event slot. Gastelum and Imavov were earlier scheduled to fight each other back in April at UFC 273, but due to Imavov’s VISA issues and Gastelum’s aforementioned injury, the bout had to fall back.

Also Read: “Mission to recovery”- Kelvin Gastelum returns to the gym following an injury that derailed UFC 273 fight

More on Kelvin Gastelum’s opponent, Nassourdine Imavov

Nassourdine Imavov is a French MMA fighter who trains out of MMA Factory, the home of former interim-UFC heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane and the former training centre of current UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou. Imavov is coming off a huge win from UFC Paris earlier this month, the first-ever UFC event held in France, as he defeated Joaquin Buckley via unanimous decision.

Imavov is 12-3 in his overall MMA career and so far, 4-1 in his UFC career with wins over the likes of Buckley, Edmen Shahbazyan, Ian Heinisch and Jordan Williams. Imavov’s scheduled fight against Gastelum will be the first time he will headline the main event.

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What do you make of the finalisation of Kelvin Gastelum’s return? Are you excited about his return? What is your favourite moment from his career? Many have considered his fight against current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya as one of the greatest fights in all of MMA history which took place for the interim-UFC middleweight championship. Who do you think wins between Gastelum and Imavov?

Also Read: “This is your house, kid” – WATCH: Dana White and Nate Diaz have EMOTIONAL interaction after UFC 279