Why was Kelvin Gastelum vs. Dricus du Plessis canceled? A look into what happened ahead of UFC 273

This weekend at UFC 297, Dricus du Plessis will get the chance to become the promotion’s new middleweight champion when he squares off with current title-holder Sean Strickland.

‘Stillknocks’ debuted in the octagon in 2020 and currently holds an unbeaten record there, with six wins in a row to his name.

While Du Plessis has beaten the likes of Robert Whittaker, Darren Till and Derek Brunson during his time in the UFC, he did miss out on knocking off a major name in 2022: TUF 17 winner Kelvin Gastelum.

At UFC 273, which took place in April 2022, ‘Stillknocks’ was initially scheduled to fight Chris Curtis in a preliminary bout. Gastelum, meanwhile, was signed to face Nassourdine Imavov.

When both Curtis and Imavov were forced off the card, though, the UFC’s matchmakers decided to pit the South African and Gastelum against one another in order to keep both fighters on the event.

Unfortunately, just two days after the fight was made – eight days before the event itself – Gastelum withdrew after reportedly suffering an undisclosed injury.

The withdrawal meant that Du Plessis could not compete at the event and instead had to sit out until UFC 276 three months later.

Unsurprisingly, ‘Stillknocks’ was vocal about this, suggesting that the TUF 17 winner backed out after watching footage of the South African’s fights and realizing that he was in trouble.

Judging from a mild social media spat last year, it’s a slight that Du Plessis still hasn’t forgiven.

After beating Chris Curtis at UFC 287, Gastelum called ‘Stillknocks’ out for a No.1 contender’s match – only for Du Plessis to immediately knock him back on X (formerly Twitter).

With Gastelum now competing at 170 pounds, it’s unlikely we’ll get to see this bout in the foreseeable future.

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Dricus du Plessis vs. Kelvin Gastelum: Was ‘Stillknocks’ favoured to win the bout, and is he favoured to beat Sean Strickland?

While Dricus du Plessis is set to fight for the UFC middleweight title this weekend, he was still largely an unknown quanitity when he was matched against Kelvin Gastelum in 2022.

That would explain why, according to Tapology.com, ‘Stillknocks’ was considered a +140 underdog against the TUF 17 winner.

Unsurprisingly, as the challenger, Dricus du Plessis is also coming into his title bout this weekend with Sean Strickland as an underdog.

According to the Vegas Insider (via Sportskeeda), the South African is a +110 underdog, while ‘Tarzan’ is a slight -138 favourite to retain his title.