Robert Whittaker thinks Kelvin Gastelum should have never taken the fight at Noche UFC in the first place.
Gastelum (19-10 MMA, 14-10 UFC) missed weight by five pounds for his middleweight bout against Dustin Stoltzfus (16-8 MMA, 3-7 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 259 main card at Front Bank Arena in San Antonio, Texas. He was fined 35 percent of his purse, but won the bout by unanimous decision.
Gastelum said he only had four weeks’ notice to make the weight, but former UFC middleweight champion Whittaker says he had a responsibility to make weight since he accepted the fight in those circumstances.
“Look at the odds: I think there’s really high odds of guys that don’t make weight – it’s the dude that doesn’t make weight that wins,” Whittaker said on his MMArcade Podcast. “It’s just such a powerful thing to have in the fight now. I would be hard-pressed to make weight in four weeks at any time, even in camp. I probably could if I was in camp and they just moved it to four weeks instead of eight.
“I don’t like it because there’s a division for a reason. There’s weight limits for a reason. If we’re just going to do whatever we want, then what are we doing? Kelvin knew this taking the fight in four weeks. He didn’t have to take the fight in four weeks. He knew this. I feel bad for Dustin. … I think he fights with himself a lot and sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses that fight.”
Gastelum isn’t getting the benefit of the doubt from many, considering his deep history with weight issues throughout his UFC career. Whittaker outlasted Gastelum in a Fight of the Night battle in April 2021.
