Kelvin Gastelum‘s weight-cutting struggles have led to his upcoming fight against Daniel Rodriguez at UFC Saudi Arabia being moved to a middleweight bout, with Rodriguez expressing frustration over Gastelum’s lack of discipline.
Kelvin Gastelum’s weight-cutting issues continue to be a problem, according to the one-time interim title challenger. Gastelum is set to face Daniel Rodriguez in a featured welterweight bout at Saturday’s UFC Saudi Arabia event.
During Thursday’s media day, Gastelum was asked about his second fight camp since returning to the 170-pound division. He opened up about a tough road to the fight — and to the scale later this week.
“To be honest, this has been a pretty hard training camp,” Gastelum said at media day. “There’s a lot of things that went on behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t know, don’t get to see, but it’s been pretty hard to get my weight down this time around. [It’s been] harder than last time.”
“I am pretty worried this week [about making the weight], but we’re going to talk with the manager and come up with the best game plan. But I think we’re in for a rough weight cut.”
Gastelum made weight for his welterweight return against Sean Brady at UFC Austin this past December but suffered a lopsided submission loss. He missed weight on several occasions before moving up, including a scratched fight with Donald Cerrone at UFC 205 in November 2016.
Rodriguez then took the podium and addressed Gastelum’s comments. He informed the media that the UFC had reached out to him and that he agreed to move the bout to middleweight.
“Actually, the matchmakers reached out and I tried to get it to a catchweight, but he must be having such a bad fight camp that he can’t even make 180,” Rodriguez said. “I’m currently 179 pounds, so I have to put weight back on.”
“It’s been 13 weeks since I found out about this fight. I’m sure he has, too, so the fact that he’s saying he’s having a bad fight camp makes no sense. I feel like it’s lack of discipline. I don’t know if he’s having a bad fight camp or just being lazy and doesn’t want to make the weight.”
“I already agreed to a [fight at] 185. I’m so invested in this fight that they put me in a really tough spot. I need this fight to happen,” Rodriguez continued. “It’s been such a long fight camp, and I did agree to take a percentage of his purse, which is only fair.”
“I just felt like 180 would’ve been a good weight, but it’s not my first time coming through for the company,” Rodriguez added. “I want the UFC to know that I’m that guy who’s going to make sacrifices — even if it’s not in my favor.”
The UFC has yet to officially announce the change. However, the Saudi Arabia event page currently lists Gastelum vs. Rodriguez as a middleweight bout.
A person with knowledge of the promotion’s plans told MMA Fighting earlier that discussions were ongoing and an update was expected soon.
Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to fight night!