Costa out, Gastelum in against Whittaker at UFC main event on April 17

Former UFC middleweight world champion Robert Whittaker will face Kelvin Gastelum in the main event of UFC on ESPN on April 17.

According to a report by ESPN, Gastelum took the place of Paulo Costa, who withdrew from the fight due to illness.

Whittaker and Gastelum were supposed to meet inside the cage a couple of years ago. The fight, however, was called off after the former champion was hospitalized and had surgery for a collapsed bowel and internal hernia.

Whittaker, 30, is coming off back-to-back wins after losing his then title to Israel Adesanya at UFC 243. He last saw action against Jared Cannonier at UFC 254 last October where he won via unanimous decision.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Kelvin Gastelum (@kgastelum)

Gastelum, meanwhile, snapped his three-fight losing skid in his last bout after he defeated Ian Heinisch via unanimous decision on the undercard of UFC 258 in February. —MGP, GMA News