UFC middleweight contender Kevin Gastelum has suggested that he's open to return to the welterweight division.
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Kevin Gastelum has suggested that he’s open to return to the welterweight division. The middleweight contender is currently set to take on Nassourdine Imavov in January next year.
Ahead of his return to the octagon, Gastelum sat down for an interview with Hablemos MMA where he spoke about potentially returning to the welterweight division. He said: “It’s something that I’ve thought about, I want to take one more fight at 185 pounds, and then after that, we’ll see if we make those changes to come back to 170. It’s not outside the realm of possibilities.”
It’s safe to say that Kevin Gastelum’s upcoming fight against Nassourdine Imavov would be detrimental in deciding his future in the middleweight division. However, it is worth noting that beating Imavov won’t be an easy job for Gastelum who’s had a run to forget in the UFC over the last few years.
Before switching up to the middleweight division, Kevin Gastelum fought in the welteweight division of the UFC. He fought seven times, however, he missed weight twice. So, it’s safe to say his run in the welterweight division wasn’t too desirable.
This led to a switch to the middleweight division in 2016. Gastelum found immediate success and went 3-1 and earned an interim title shot against Israel Adesanya. Since his loss to Adesanya, he has won only one bout and lost four.
Because of the same reason, it’s really a do or die matchup for Kevin Gastelum against Nassourdine Imavov. If he fails to register a win in January, then we can most certainly expect him to make a switch yet again. That said, it will be interesting to see how he does against Imavov early next year.
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