Yousri Belgaroui at UFC

Yousri Belgaroui has a new opponent for Noche UFC, but his place on the Sept. 12 card in Glendale remains intact. Kelvin Gastelum is out of the scheduled middleweight fight for reasons that have not been made public, and Djorden Santos will instead meet Belgaroui on short notice. Brazilian journalist Leo Guimaraes first reported the change, stating that Belgaroui and Santos are set for the event while Gastelum has withdrawn for unknown reasons. For Belgaroui, the late switch preserves an important appearance while changing the assignment he prepared to solve. Gastelum represented a recognizable test in the middleweight division. Santos arrives with less time to prepare, but with his own immediate incentive: a replacement opportunity to alter the direction of his UFC run against a fighter whose striking reputation has followed him into the promotion.

The development is straightforward in one respect: Yousri Belgaroui is still booked to compete at Noche UFC. The uncertainty lies around Gastelum’s exit, which has not been publicly explained in the supplied report. That distinction matters because the available information confirms a replacement opponent, not the reason behind the original opponent’s withdrawal. Belgaroui now moves from a matchup with a former Ultimate Fighter winner to one against Santos, a Brazilian who earned a UFC opportunity through Dana White’s Contender Series. The date, event and middleweight setting remain the same in the reported update. What changes is the opponent across from Belgaroui and the recent form each man brings into the bout.

Belgaroui keeps his Sept. 12 assignment

Yousri Belgaroui’s Noche UFC appearance had been expected to put him opposite Gastelum, a booking that carried clear name recognition. The source describes that original matchup as a meaningful measuring point for Belgaroui, who entered MMA with an established kickboxing reputation and had worked through two appearances on Dana White’s Contender Series before later collecting UFC wins. The revised booking does not erase that context, but it redirects it. Belgaroui is no longer preparing for the fighter initially assigned to him. Instead, Santos steps into the fight on short notice, creating a matchup with a different recent history and a different route to the UFC. Belgaroui remains the central figure in the change: his scheduled contest survives, his opponent changes, and his opportunity to compete in Glendale stays in place. The report also places Belgaroui in training circles connected to Glover Teixeira and Alex Pereira. That background is part of why his stand-up profile has drawn attention. It does not determine how the Santos fight will unfold, but it explains why a middleweight booking involving Belgaroui is framed around the translation of his striking credentials into MMA competition.

Santos brings a defined, if uneven, recent UFC sequence into the replacement role. He came through Dana White’s Contender Series by defeating Will Currie. In the UFC, Santos first suffered a narrow loss to Ozzy Diaz, then rebounded with a win over Danny Barlow. His most recent outing ended when Baisangur Susurkaev submitted him with a third-round rear-naked choke. That chronology gives the Belgaroui matchup concrete context without requiring speculation about either athlete’s preparation or what the fight will produce. Santos is not merely a name replacing Gastelum on a bout sheet; he is entering after a setback and with a chance to compete again quickly. Belgaroui, meanwhile, is adjusting to an opponent whose recent UFC path includes both a rebound victory and a submission defeat. The source does not provide further details about the withdrawal or any official explanation for it.

What the opponent change confirms

The reported change establishes several points for Yousri Belgaroui’s next appearance. He is still scheduled for Noche UFC in Glendale on Sept. 12. The fight remains a middleweight contest. Djorden Santos is the replacement opponent, and Kelvin Gastelum is no longer in the bout for publicly undisclosed reasons. It also preserves the broader importance of activity for Belgaroui. His original booking with Gastelum was described as a potential indicator of whether he could move beyond being viewed principally as an exciting striker at 185 pounds. Santos does not carry the same stated name-value framing, yet the replacement still gives Belgaroui a live UFC assignment against an opponent with experience on both Contender Series and the UFC roster. The event card cited in the report includes Yair Rodriguez vs. Jean Silva, Brandon Moreno vs. Joseph Morales, Tommy McMillen vs. Marwan Rahiki, and Manon Fiorot vs. Alexa Grasso. Belgaroui versus Santos is therefore one of the reported Noche UFC matchups affected by a late adjustment, rather than a separate event or a newly announced date. Beyond the opponent change, no additional outcome or future plan is confirmed in the supplied material.

• Yousri Belgaroui remains scheduled to compete at Noche UFC on Sept. 12 in Glendale in a middleweight bout.
• Djorden Santos replaces Kelvin Gastelum, whose withdrawal reason has not been made public in the reported update.

Yousri Belgaroui’s Noche UFC plan has changed, not disappeared. The Gastelum matchup is off, Santos is in, and the middleweight fight remains set for Sept. 12 in Glendale. The supplied report offers no public reason for Gastelum’s exit, so the most reliable reading is limited to the confirmed replacement: Belgaroui now faces Santos. For Belgaroui, it is a chance to remain active on the same card while navigating a late opponent change that brings a different set of recent results and career context into the cage.

Sources: MiddleEasy