Kelvin Gastelum News

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2019

On February 24, in Melbourne, Australia, Kelvin Gastelum will get his long-awaited shot at the UFC middleweight title as he battles reigning champion Robert Whittaker in one of the most competitive-looking matchups we’ve seen in awhile. Heading into this fight, the MMA community seems to be divided on who will win. Kelvin Gastelum, however, is extremely confident that he’ll come out on top — in quick and decisive fashion.

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2019

Last night, top UFC middleweight contender Kelvin Gastelum took a shot at UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley for plotting a move up to the middleweight division. Haha @TWooodley has never wanted this smoke after we fought the 1st time! He can’t compete at MW 🤷‍♂️ https://t.co/NxXkOawHlT

Thomas Taylor - January 15, 2019

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley recently announced that he plans to move up to the middleweight division in the near future. This news generated an interesting reaction from top middleweight contender Kelvin Gastelum, who Woodley defeated in a catchweight bout in 2015. https://twitter.com/KelvinGastelum/status/1085252534401265664

Tom Taylor - November 13, 2018

Earlier this month, ESPN reported that a middleweight title fight between reigning champ Robert Whittaker and surging contender Kelvin Gastelum was headed to UFC 234 on February 10 in Melbourne, Australia (February 9 in North America). The promotion has now made this booking official.

Drake Riggs - November 2, 2018

We knew that the next middleweight title fight would see the champion Robert Whittaker defending against Kelvin Gastelum, we just didn’t know when. That is no longer the case as ESPN has confirmed with UFC president Dana White that the middleweight title will be on the line at UFC 234 on Whittaker’s home turf in Melbourne, Australia. The event is expected to take place on February 9.

James Lynch - October 29, 2018

It’s been a rough year for former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman (14-3). From an injury that has been keeping him on the sidelines since July 2017, to his opponent Luke Rockhold withdrawing from Saturdays UFC 230 bout, 2018 hasn’t been the year Weidman has hoped for. But perhaps the most frustrating part is that the last man he defeated, Kelvin Gastelum, is fighting for the middleweight title sometime next year against champion Robert Whittaker.

Drake Riggs - July 16, 2018

The UFC’s middleweight king Robert Whittaker can’t catch a break when it comes to injuries. Now he expects he won’t fight until next year at the earliest. Despite breaking his hand once again in his second encounter with Yoel Romero at UFC 225, Whittaker was has been announced as one of the coaches for season 28 of The Ultimate Fighter.

Tom Taylor - July 16, 2018

Kelvin Gastelum has won the middleweight title shot sweepstakes, sprinting ahead of his fellow middleweight contenders in the race to the next crack at divisional champion Robert Whittaker. Gastelum will battle Whittaker sometime later this year, but first, the pair will serve as the coaches of the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. For Gastelum, Whittaker represents and undeniably tough test. That said, Gastelum wonders if Whittaker might be a different fighter after his last two bouts, a pair of absolute wars with the fearsome Yoel Romero.

Tom Taylor - July 2, 2018

Riding high on impressive defeats of former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and former Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Kelvin Gastelum feels he’s earned the next shot at reigning UFC middleweight champ Robert Whittaker. Unfortunately, he feels that Whittaker is attempting to steer clear of the matchup. “I know that he’s been offered the fight against me twice and he has not been wanting to fight me,” Gastelum said on a recent episode of The MMA Hour (transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting). “And I think that’s for good reason. I think I give him the most difficult time if we step in the cage and I think he knows that. In my opinion, I match up horribly for him.”

Drake Riggs - June 25, 2018

Despite all the great action we witnessed at UFC 225, in the post-fight press conference it seemed like an off night for the boss-man, Dana White. Not in terms of the event going badly, but when it came to the rather unusual responses he gave out when answering questions from the media.

Tom Taylor - June 14, 2018

Now that Robert Whittaker has defeated Yoel Romero for a second time — he did so by decision in the main event of UFC 225 — there are two clear frontrunners in the race to the next middleweight title shot. One is former middleweight champion Chris Weidman. The other is streaking contender Kelvin Gastelum. Weidman believes he deserves the next middleweight title shot because he submitted Kelvin Gastelum in his last fight. He also believes that his accolades as a former middleweight champion — with three defenses to his name — outweigh his three recent losses to Luke Rockhold, Romero and Gegard Mousasi.

Chris Taylor - May 13, 2018

Kelvin Gastelum (15-3 MMA, 1 no-contest) added another huge name to his resume at last night’s UFC 224 event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil scoring a hard fought split-decision victory over perennial middleweight contender Ronadlo “Jacare” Souza. The win marked Kelvin’s second in a row, as he had previously starched Michael Bisping this past November in Shanghai, China.

Tom Taylor - May 3, 2018

Former welterweight Kelvin Gastelum is now firmly embedded as a member of the UFC middleweight roster, having earned the number-five spot in the divisional rankings. The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 winner’s next middleweight bout will occur at UFC 224 this May 12, when he takes on Brazilian grappling ace Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in a fight that could well produce the division’s next title contender.

Drake Riggs - March 22, 2018

One of if not The Ultimate Fighter’s biggest underdog in the show’s history has blossomed into one of the finest mixed martial artists in the world today. The young twenty-one year old at the time, Kelvin Gastelum wasn’t expected to make it very far on his season(17) of TUF but ended up winning the whole thing. Fast forward five years and he’s one of the very best young talents in the game. Gastelum was a career middleweight until he won TUF 17 where he would go on to drop to welterweight afterward before winning some big fights but having weight troubles at the same time. He now finds himself back at 185-pounds and potentially just one win away from his first ever UFC title shot.

Drake Riggs - February 22, 2018

The Ultimate Fighter season 17 winner, Kelvin Gastelum may have just got the title eliminator he was looking for. The UFC announced on Thursday that a huge middleweight fight will be taking place at UFC 224 on May 12 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil as the countryman, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza returns home to defend his turf against one of the best young rising stars in MMA, Kelvin Gastelum.

Drake Riggs - February 15, 2018

No one expected the youngest man in The Ultimate Fighter house on season 17 to end up winning the whole show. In fact, that guy was the underdog in all of his fights. Yet Kelvin Gastelum won them all and continues to look like one of the best young fighters in MMA today. Gastelum won TUF 17 as a middleweight but would drop to welterweight immediately after. He would miss weight twice in five fights before going back up to middleweight, but that stay at 185 would not last. Gastelum would fight once against Nate Marquardt then drop back down to 170 for two more fights before now having his last four all at middleweight.

Tom Taylor - January 24, 2018

Kelvin Gastelum has enjoyed a pretty solid run since rejoining the UFC middleweight division. His latest middleweight run began with a decisive defeat of Tim Kennedy. Next, he smashed Vitor Belfort to a first-round TKO – though this win was overturned when he tested positive for marijuana metabolites. From there, he had his momentum halted by a submission loss to Chris Weidman, yet he recently rebounded from that loss with perhaps the best win of his career: a first-round knockout of former UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping.

Justin Golightly - December 14, 2017

It was like magic. Georges St-Pierre left the middleweight division and a tidal wave of movement happened with no one having to fight each other. Luke Rockhold got a middleweight title shot — not an interim bout, but for the undisputed title — against Robert Whittaker and contenders all got bumped up a notch. Not everyone can be happy though, Kelvin Gastelum thought he deserved the shot after knocking out Michael Bisping and made sure everyone knew it. Rockhold shrugged his opinion off and promised if he kept it up, he can get smacked down in good time. “Given how ridiculous things are, I mean, yeah, of course there’s the [thoughts of] are they really gonna take that step [and give Kelvin Gastelum the fight], are they really gonna keep falling further within that realm? But everybody obviously, people came to me and made polls or whatever and I know I was at the top of every list. I know I’ve proven myself, I’ve accomplished things in this sport, whereas little midgets like Kelvin Gastelum haven’t. I’ve destroyed Chris Weidman, which he got destroyed by Weidman, so it’s like ehh. This kid hasn’t beaten really anybody and done anything in this sport, and for him to run his mouth, it’s pretty funny. It’s laughable. He’ll find out for real if he continues his efforts at 185. I’d slap that kid down real quick. Real quick.”