At welterweight, Kelvin Gastelum could still have some fight in him.
A former UFC fighter and “The Ultimate Fighter 17” champion believes a weight cutback to 170 pounds may be in his future.
On January 14, Gastelum (17-8 MMA, 11-8 UFC) will reportedly battle at 185 pounds against Nassourdine Imavov in a UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas.
The match against Imavov may be his final at middleweight, depending on how things turn out.
“It’s something that I’ve thought about,” Gastelum told MMA Junkie in Spanish.
“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.”
When Gastelum battled former UFC champion Johny Hendricks, at UFC 200 in 2016, he reached the welterweight limit. Before then, Gastelum fought at middleweight against Uriah Hall in “The Ultimate Fighter Finale 17,” otherwise spending nearly his entire career at 170 pounds.
Gastelum missed weight for two of the seven welterweight UFC fights for which he was scheduled.
The 175-pound weight class, or light heavyweight in boxing, according to the 31-year-old athlete, would have been advantageous for him, but the UFC does not currently recognize that weight class.
“Yeah, definitely, I would’ve benefited from an 175-pound category,” Gastelum said. “I would’ve liked that, but it was never made.”