Kelvin Gastelum to Return to 170 Lbs. Despite Rocky UFC History
UFC Middleweight Kelvin Gastelum has made an "official announcement" that he will be dropping down to Welterweight for his next UFC appearance.
Gastelum announced his return to Welterweight in a video he published to Twitter on May 11:
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"I am making an official announcement. An official drop down to 170[lbs.]. Expect my next fight to be at 170, I'm going to get shredded! I hope!
"I think I can make another title run at that weight class, I think I can make it. Why this time? And why now? And why not before? Like I said, this is a second chance; this is a renaissance.
"In my career, this is a rebirth. Before I was young; I was dumb; I was stupid, undisciplined. But now that I'm older, hopefully a little bit more mature and smarter... hopefully!
"Everybody knows [welterweight] has always been my weight class to go to, but it really just takes me to decide that I want to do it. And now I decide that I want to do it, and I'm going to do it."
Kelvin Gastelum's Rocky History With the Scales
After winning "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 17 against Uriah Hall, Gastelum successfully moved down from middleweight to welterweight for the first time in the UFC.
Gastelum has had seven appearances at welterweight, where he has missed weight a total of three times against the likes of Nico Musoke, Tyron Woodley, and Donald Cerrone.
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Against Musoke and Woodley, Gastelum forfeited 30 percent of his purse, but his fight against Cerrone was cancelled outright.
After the 10Lbs. weight miss against Woodley, UFC President Dana White requested Gastelum to move back to middleweight, but it took the Cerrone cancellation to finally make that happen.
Whether discipline, genetics, or other external factors come into play, it's a precarious decision by Gastelum to return to welterweight.
His title aspirations would suggest welterweight as a long-term gameplan, and with Gastelum's history on the welterweight scales, it remains yet to be seen whether he can put it all together to achieve the success he desires.
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