The problem started when he watched my tape - Dricus du Plessis believes Kevin Gastelum made up the injury to avoid UFC 273 fight

Dricus du Plessis (left) & Kelvin Gastelum (right) [Image Credits- @dricusduplessis on Instagram]

Dricus du Plessis recently offered his take on Kelvin Gastelum's sudden withdrawal from their middleweight bout, which was scheduled to take place at UFC 273. He argued that Gastelum chose to duck the fight after watching his training footage.

While in conversation with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, du Plessis argued that Gastelum's team chose to back out of the fight because he was a relatively unknown threat in the division.

The South African declared that rather than Gastelum suffering an injury during fight week, he believes the ranked 185lber didn't want the matchup after seeing tape of his bouts.

"I think, you know, I've seen in an interview, where he did an interview and he just said, 'Listen, I don't know this guy at all.' He doesn't know me. He, you know, he saw two fights, he saw the record, he's like 2-0 in UFC and I guess, then they started watching tape and that's where the problem started, to be honest."

Check out Dricus du Plessis' full interaction with Ariel Helwani right here:

Ali Abdelaziz contradicts Dricus du Plessis' claims, offers update on Kelvin Gastelum's injury

MMA journalist John Morgan recently took to social media in a bid to share a message from Kelvin Gastelum's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, with fans. Via Morgan, the Egyptian revealed that the 30-year-old is scheduled for knee surgery sometime soon.

Check out John Morgan's tweet below:

"Spoke to [Ali Abdelaziz], who said [Kelvin Gastelum] will undergo knee surgery next week. At that point, he’ll have a better understanding of Gastelum’s timetable for a potential return to action."

Spoke to @AliAbdelaziz00, who said @KelvinGastelum will undergo knee surgery next week. At that point, he’ll have a better understanding of Gastelum’s timetable for a potential return to action.

Kelvin Gastelum was previously scheduled to lock horns with Nassourdine Imavov on the UFC 273 fight card. However, the Frenchman was unable to fight due to visa issues.

Gastelum, who insisted on retaining his position on the card, was subsequently matched with Dricus du Plessis before an injury de-railed those plans.

UFC 273 is scheduled to take place on April 9, Saturday. The action is set to unfold at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.