Kelvin Gastelum (16-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC)
Welterweight (170lbs): 4-1 (UFC), Missed weight for three bouts
Catchweight (180lbs): 0-1 (UFC), Welterweight bout that Kelvin missed weight for continued as catchweight bout
Middleweight (185lbs): 5-3 (UFC), The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 Winner, UFC Interim Middleweight Title Challenger
Kelvin Gastelum began his career with the UFC on The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 when he racked up four wins in the TUF house before winning the show. And all at a weight of 185lbs, mind you.
Physically, Kelvin Gastelum felt as if he would fare a lot better in the welterweight division after his stint on TUF at middleweight. Gastelum stands at just 5’9″ and has a 71.5″ reach. 15lbs is a lot of weight for a professional athlete that weights 185lbs. Unfortunately, his move down to 170lbs would mark one of the worst battles with weight cutting in the UFC, as well as affect Gastelum’s ability to lose weight for years in the future. Gastelum missed weight for the first time in his third welterweight fight against Nico Musoke in 2014. Kelvin would miss weight less than a year later against Tyron Woodley, and lost as well. Then in 2016 for a fight against Donald Cerrone, Gastelum could not make weight and the bout was cancelled as a result, this would be the last straw as he was forced to move up to middleweight afterwards.
Gastelum looked way healthier at middleweight and though he has racked up a few losses, they were all against quality competition. Kelvin really quickly climbed the ranks of the middleweight division as a real dark horse in order to face Israel Adesanya in arguably the greatest interim title fight of all time. And though he didn’t come out on the winning side, he is still one of the major contenders in the UFC at 185lbs.
