Kelvin Gastelum out of UFC fight vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov due to injury
Kelvin Gastelum is no stranger to adversity, but encountering it still hurts nonetheless.
After a cryptic tweet Tuesday by Shavkat Rakhmonov (17-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) that indicated their upcoming fight was canceled, Gastelum (18-8 MMA, 12-8 UFC) confirmed he withdrew from the bout due to a facial fracture sustained in training. The bout was scheduled to take place Sept. 16 at Noche UFC, the promotion’s Mexican Independence Day-themed event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“Unfortunate news, my fight with Shavkat Rakhmonov is off,” Gastelum said in a video posted to his social media and YouTube channel. “I received an elbow that resulted in an open fracture and a few bones that came out fractured. I have to apologize to everybody. To everybody who was excited for this fight, I apologize to everybody. My apologies to Shavkat Rakhmonov and his team. I feel bad. I feel very horrible about this unfortunate incident. I’ll be back. I’m still going to continue training. I can still do my strength and conditioning training (and) movement. I can still do a lot of training with my trainer, Noah Feinberg.”
Breaking news 🚨
Unfortunately I received an injury and my fight with Shavkat Rakhmonov off/delayed
Full video on my YouTube channel. pic.twitter.com/NXxvHjU54U— #OnAmission4Gold (@KelvinGastelum) August 1, 2023
While Gastelum indicated there is no solid plan in place as to what’s next, he expressed interest in the Rakhmonov fight being rescheduled for later in 2023.
“I asked to move it up to November,” Gastelum said. “Hopefully, they grant me this wish. That would be Nov. 11 in Madison Square Garden. It’s hard to be a Kelvin Gastelum fan sometimes, I know. We go through ups and downs together. But I promise we’re fighting to get back on the horse and get back on that winning streak and continue it.
Gastelum, 31, snapped a two-fight skid in April when he defeated Chris Curtis. On the other side of the equation, Rakhmonov looked to continue his tear through the welterweight division and add to a resume that already includes Geoff Neal and Neil Magny among others.
With the change, the Noche UFC lineup includes:
Champion Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko – for women’s flyweight title
Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. TBA
Tracy Cortez vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
Daniel Rodriguez vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
Chris Curtis vs. Anthony Hernandez
Lupita Godinez vs. Sam Hughes
Cynthia Calvillo vs. Elise Reed
Edgar Chairez vs. Daniel Lacerda
Christos Giagos vs. Daniel Zellhuber
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for the Noche UFC.