Kelvin Gastelum gives injury update, reveals potential timeline for return
No.13-ranked UFC middleweight Kelvin Gastelum shared an update about his horrific injury that forced him to pull out of his UFC Vegas 67 bout.
Gastelum was supposed to face Nassourdin Imavov in the main event, but was forced to pull out of the bout in the last week of camp due to an injury.
Imavov faced Sean Strickland as a last-minute replacement, and the bout was contested at 205 pounds. Gastelum has been sharing updates about his injury and a possible return on Twitter.
In one of his latest tweets, Kelvin Gastelum spoke about the current status of his injury and his probable return to training.
Check out Gastelum's tweet below:
I didn’t know teeth could be stitched back in. Dentist told me it should be 3-4 weeks until it’s healed.
Let’s hope he’s right.
Here's what the caption read:
"I didn't know [that] teeth could be stitched back in. [The] dentist told me [that] it should be 3-4 weeks until it's healed. Let's hope he's right."
The Mexican-American fighter was scheduled to headline the first UFC card of 2023 against Nassourdin Imamov but was sidelined due to the aforementioned injury.
In a tweet, the former interim middleweight title contender shared a graphic video of the surgery being done on his mouth.
Check out the video below. (Warning: Graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised):
Graphic imaging ⚠️‼️ https://t.co/L8jhdRgV0F
When Kelvin Gastelum went to war with Israel Adesanya
Kelvin Gastelum fought Israel Adesanya for the interim middleweight title at UFC 236 (back when Robert Whittaker was the divisional champion). The fight between Gastelum and Adesanya is one of the greatest bouts in middleweight history, with both fighters not backing down.
The bout saw both 'Stylebender' and Gastelum be pushed to their limits, as both fighters managed to have big moments, rocking each other. However, Adesanya managed to drop Gastelum a couple of times and gain the upper hand on the judges' scorecards.
Gastelum took Israel Adesanya to deep waters, where he forced Adesanya to grapple and lock in a triangle choke that he didn't sustain. Adesanya infamously uttered the words, "I'm prepared to die." before the fifth round of their bout.
Check out the video of Adesanya uttering the infamous words below:
Kelvin Gastelum lost the bout via unanimous decision, moving one step away from his dreams of title contention. He has not been the same after the bout with Israel Adesanya. Gastelum has been on a 1-4 losing skid since losing to 'The Last Stylebender'.
He last fought No.3-ranked Jared Cannonier in a losing effort at UFC Vegas 34. Kelvin Gastelum has a promotional record of 11-8 (1 NC) and an overall MMA record of 16-8 (1 NC).