Ray Longo puts partial blame on the UFC for Kelvin Gastelum’s weight miss against Dustin Stoltzfus.
Gastelum (19-10 MMA, 14-10 UFC) missed the middleweight mark by five pounds in his unanimous decision win over Stoltzfus (16-8 MMA, 3-7 UFC) this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 259 from Front Bank Arena in San Antonio, Texas. He was fined 35 percent of his purse.
The Season 17 “Ultimate Fighter” winner said he only had four weeks’ notice to make the weight, and based off his history of mishaps on the scale, Longo says the UFC should have known better.
“Part of the play – I don’t want to say this – is the UFC, too,” Longo said on the “Anik & Florian Podcast.” “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 thinks Gastelum may have serious health issues 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,” Longo said. “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.”
