Strickland against Imavov and all other bouts tonight
Sean Strickland and Nassourdine Iavov will face off in a light heavyweight bout UFC Main event this weekend, with Kelvin Gastelum replacing him.
On Monday (9 January), Gastelum announced 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.
Imavov is currently on a three fight win streak and has moved up to 12-3. outpointing Joaquin Buckley last time out. This fight took place in Imavov’s hometown at UFC Paris, September.
The rising contender now faces his most difficult test, as the No. 12 UFC middleweight will face 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 does it happen?
Prelims will begin at 10pm GMT Saturday 14 January (2pm PST, 4pm CT and 5pm ET) with the main card following at 12am GMT Sunday 15 January (4pm PST, 6pm CT, 7pm ET).
How do I see 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 for change)
Main card
Sean Strickland vs Nassourdine Iavov (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)
Preliminary
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)