Gastelum Talks Whittaker, Dana White

A media day was recently held for the 28th season of The Ultimate Fighter, which will be coached by Kelvin Gastelum and UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker.

UFC officials have deemed Gastelum the next in line for a shot at Whittaker’s title, and while no date has been announced yet, Gastelum claims he heard a possible December date due to the end of the TUF season being around the same time. However, the title shot will have to be delayed, as earlier this week it was reported a broken hand would keep Whittaker out of action until 2019.

“A little disappointing, but definitely understandable,” Gastelum said.

Gastelum also discussed a matter involving UFC 225 that saw him seemingly at odds with UFC President Dana White. According to White, Gastelum was planned by the UFC to be a backup in case something fell through with the planned middleweight title bout between Whittaker and Yoel Romero. Romero ended up missing weight but still fought a non-title, five-round main event fight anyways.

White said Gastelum was dealing with “personal issues” and couldn’t be a backup, which didn’t sit well with Gastelum, who previously claimed UFC didn’t give him enough time to prepare as he had just gotten back from vacation.

But a little over a month later, and now with Gastelum coaching TUF, it appears the conflict is now water under the bridge.

“I think it was just more of a communication between my manager, his team and then my team,” Gastelum said. “It was just miscommunication, I think. We’ve got it all figured out. As you guys can tell, we’re on better terms now. He gave me the title shot, and I’m a coach now. We’re on good terms.”

You can check out the full media scrum in the video player above, courtesy of MMA Junkie.

Original Story: MMA Junkie