Kelvin Gastelum's next fight: Who is the 31-year-old fighting in 2023?

Kelvin Gastelum will be hoping to avoid losing three fights in a row when taking on Nassourdine Imavov in January next year.

Gastelum has lost back-to-back UFC bouts against Jared Cannonier and Robert Whittaker. The American's most recent win came against Ian Heinisch at UFC 258: Usman vs. Burns.

However, Imavov will be no easy opponent, with the Dagestan-born fighter winning his last three UFC outings. 'Russian Sniper' has beaten the likes of Joaquin Buckley, Edmen Shahbazyan and Ian Heinisch during his current winning streak.

Nassourdine Imavov has fought five times in the UFC, and currently has a 4-1 record in the organization. Only Phil Hawes has beaten the 26-year-old while competing in the UFC, with the Russian losing to Michał Michalski and Ayadi Majdeddine in other organizations.

Kelvin Gastelum is seemingly eager to find a way to turn his poor form around and recently changed gyms to shake things up. The American has moved from Kings MMA to Fight Ready, and spoke to MMA Junkie about his decision to change the setup.

It seems that both financial and performance reasons played a part in the move to Fight Ready, with Gastelum stating:

Well, first of all, California, I had to get the hell out of there. It was crazy expensive. Other than that, I need to change my game up. Things aren’t going the way I want them in my career. I need to switch things up. I made some radical changes by coming out here to Fight Ready and coming out here to Arizona, and you know, changing my whole environment, changing where I live and getting real uncomfortable.

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What is Kelvin Gastelum's current UFC record?

It's no secret that Kelvin Gastelum has been struggling in the UFC recently, and is currently on a two-fight losing streak in the organization. Gastelum has a UFC record of 11 wins, 8 losses and 1 no-contest after 20 outings under the organization's banner.

The 31-year-old has failed to beat the very best fighters in the UFC, with many of his losses coming against big names. The likes of Jared Cannonier, Robert Whittaker, Jack Hermansson and Israel Adesanya are just some of the fighters to get the better of the American.

Watch Gastelum take on Adesanya here:

Kelvin Gastelum will get a chance to end his two-fight losing streak when taking on Nassourdine Imavov next year. Imavov has won his last three outings in the UFC and seems like a harsh pairing for the American.