Kelvin Gastelum may have missed weight yet again last weekend for his middleweight fight with Dustin Stoltzfus at Noche UFC 3, but is the promotion partially at fault?
It’s no secret that Gastelum often has issues making weight. The former Ultimate Fighter winner has always seemed to struggle with this and it’s a big reason why he moved up to middleweight all those years ago. Gastelum did make a successful cut back down to 170 pounds for his 2023 clash with Sean Brady before returning to 185 pounds the following fight. This past weekend Gastelum missed weight as a member of the UFC’s middleweight division for the first time in his career, but it was an alarming five-pound fail.
In the end, Gastelum captured a unanimous decision win over Stoltzfus, but did have to cough up $60,000 in fines.
Prominent MMA coach, Ray Longo, doesn’t believe all the blame should be thrown at Gastelum for his recent weigh miss. Instead, Longo is partially blaming UFC matchmakers for dragging Gastelum into a fight on short nice and expecting him to come in on weight.
“Part of the play – I don’t want to say this – is the UFC, too,” Longo claimed during a recent appearance on the “Anik & Florian Podcast” (via MMA Junkie). “They’re asking a guy on a month’s notice to fight, and it’s the old saying, ‘You put a gun in a monkey’s hand and he shoots somebody, whose fault is it?’ That’s what they did. They know the guy can’t make the weight, most likely. It’s not in their favor. Go with a guy that is a guaranteed lock.”
Longo, who has trained fighters in all different weight classes throughout his coaching career, believes Gastelum may have a “serious eating disorder” that he needs to address.
“I like Kelvin. He’s really been a nice guy from the first day I met him. But I do think he’s got a serious eating disorder,” said Longo. “He might fall into a category. He’s struggling with something. I believe he’s struggling. I don’t think it’s that he doesn’t care. … You want to believe it’s not just like, ‘I don’t give a f*ck.’
“But when you sign that agreement – I really believe this guy struggles with something or his body’s not responding like a normal person. I don’t know. I could be completely wrong. I feel bad for him because it’s not a good look. Don’t sign the agreement if you can’t make the weight.”
What do you think, Maniacs? Should UFC take any blame for Gastelum’s five-pound weight miss as a middleweight or is that all on him?
