Coach discloses the untold story of Kelvin Gastelum's struggle with weight cut
Kelvin Gastelum went up against Daniel Rodriguez at UFC Saudi Arabia last weekend. While Gastelum ultimately won the fight via unanimous decision, his victory was marred by his failure to make the contracted 170-pound weight, and the bout had to be rebooked as a middleweight bout.
While Gastelum apologized for struggling to make weight, many were irked by his mistake. In the aftermath, UFC CEO Dana White expressed how upset he was at Gastelum and pointed out that it wasn't his first time missing weight. However, it appears Gastelum faced significant challenges in the lead-up to the fight that resulted in him not being able to make the contracted welterweight limit.
In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Gastelum's coach, Santino DeFranco, shared some inside stories about his star fighter's weight-cut challenges. He revealed that Gastelum didn't even know about his fight against Rodriguez and said:
"He didn't accept the fight with 'D-Rod', he never did. He woke up to IG, and it was on... He had been in a motorcycle accident [in Thailand] a couple of days before... Got all cut and scraped... He got a staph infection from all the cuts and everything from the motorcycle accident."
DeFranco continued:
"Three weeks of antibiotics... He's flying out early to Saudi Arabia two weeks early to acclimate to the time... Two things happened - Their concept of healthy food for a weight cut is healthy food for regular people eating healthy... There was stuff that just wasn't right. Then he got another staph infection... We asked for a catchweight of 175 [pounds]."
Catch DeFranco's comments below (8:10):
Dana White on Kelvin Gastelum missing weight for UFC Saudi Arabia
As mentioned, Dana White wasn't happy about Kelvin Gastelum missing weight for his fight against Daniel Rodgriguez at UFC Saudi Arabia. In a post-fight presser, the UFC CEO expressed his dismay at Gastelum's mistake.
Speaking about the young fighters who accept fights on short notice and fly out to different countries to prove themselves, White compared their dedication to Gastelum's and said:
"I’m not thrilled with Kelvin Gastelum right now. This guy’s missed weight like three times in his career... You got kids taking fights on a week’s notice, jumping on cards, coming over here and making weight and Kelvin doesn’t make weight. It’s extremely disappointing."