The Ultimate Fighter winner Kelvin Gastelum may have been forced by UFC President Dana White to go up to middleweight after being unable to make the welterweight limit of 170 pounds on several occasions, however he has future plans at 170 pounds.
In Gastelum’s middleweight debut in December, he picked up an impressive 3rd round TKO win over Tim Kennedy, who was returning to the Octagon for the first time since his first professional loss. Gastelum then picked up momentum at 185 pounds as he picked up a 1st round TKO win over Vitor Belfort this month in Fortaleza.
Following that, Gastelum called out UFC icon Anderson Silva for a fight, which the UFC promptly booked for UFC 212 on June 3rd.
Despite the current success Gastelum has found at middleweight, he is still eyeing the UFC welterweight title.
He spoke to MMAFighting:
“I’m thinking about getting the 170 belt,” Gastelum said. “But, I’m thinking about getting the 170 belt, but if I have to get the 185 belt before, so be it.”
“We’ll see after this fight,” Gastelum said. “I dunno. Hopefully I’ll be in a position when I win this fight I can lay out a few options and see what they are and go from there. Next step would be title shot at ’85, but realistically that might not happen.”
advertisement – continue reading below
Gastelum was then asked if he would be able to make 170 pounds for a welterweight title fight, to which he responded:
“I just know that I can make it. I just had to figure out a healthy way to make it. Instead of cutting it all, I had to figure out how to make my body work and how to do it right. For sure.”
On June 3rd, fight fans will be able to tune in and find out if Gastelum is able to move one step closer to a middleweight title shot.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/23/2017