Nassourdine Imavov will go up against Sean Strickland in a light-heavyweight UFC main event this weekend, as the latter replaces Kelvin Gastelum.
Gastelum revealed on Monday (9 January) that he had suffered a mouth injury, ruling him out of this Fight Night and extending the American’s absence from the Octagon past 18 months. In stark contrast, compatriot Strickland will return to the ring just one month after his last fight – a second straight loss, as he was outpointed by Jared Cannonier.
Meanwhile, Imavov enters this bout on a three-fight win streak, having moved to 12-3 by outpointing Joaquin Buckley last time out. That fight took place on home turf for Imavov, at UFC Paris in September.
Now the rising contender faces his toughest test yet, as the No 12 UFC middleweight faces seventh-ranked Strickland. However, the new main event will take place at light-heavyweight due to Strickland’s short-notice weight-cut.
Here’s all you need to know ahead of the event at the UFC’s Apex institute in Las Vegas.
When is it?
The prelims will start at 10pm GMT on Saturday 14 January (2pm PT, 4pm CT, 5pm ET), with the main card following at 12am GMT on Sunday 15 January (4pm PT, 6pm CT, 7pm ET on Saturday).
How can I watch it?
The card will air live on BT Sport in the UK, with the broadcaster’s app and website also streaming the fights.
In the US, ESPN+ will stream the action live, as will the UFC’s Fight Pass.
Odds
Imavov – 19/40
Gastelum – 17/10
Full card (subject to change)
Main card
Sean Strickland vs Nassourdine Imavov (light-heavyweight)
Dan Ige vs Damon Jackson (featherweight)
Punahele Soriano vs Roman Kopylov (middleweight)
Ketlen Vieira vs Raquel Pennington (women’s bantamweight)
Umar Nurmagomedov vs Raoni Barcelos (bantamweight)
Prelims
Claudio Ribeiro vs Abdul Razak Alhassan (middleweight)
Mateusz Rebecki vs Nick Fiore (lightweight)
Javid Basharat vs Mateus Mendonca (bantamweight)
Allan Nascimento vs Carlos Hernandez (flyweight)
Isaac Dulgarian vs Daniel Argueta (featherweight)
Charles Johnson vs Jimmy Flick (flyweight)
Priscila Cachoeira vs Sijara Eubanks (women’s flyweight)
