Kelvin Gastelum is looking to return to action in the summer.
Gastelum hasn’t competed since November last year where he was outpointed by Darren Till in what was an underwhelming performance. The former title challenger has already gone on record stating that he returned to action too quickly following a back-and-forth war in his interim middleweight title fight with Israel Adesanya nearly seven months earlier.
And having suffered a knee injury in January — which luckily required no surgery — the time off has been a blessing in disguise for Gastelum who is now targeting a July comeback.
“I’ve been recovering from a torn LCL back in January – I had a full tear,” Gastelum told MMA Fighting. “No surgery needed, thankfully. Just been doing therapy on it and reconstructive therapy on it. It’s about 85 or 90 percent there.
“I’m just starting to grapple a bit, starting to box again. I’m starting to kick again. Training is picking back up a little bit. Just at the right time. Hopefully by July — I don’t know where this whole pandemic thing will be by then — but I’m hoping to fight by July.”
Gastelum notably claimed the defeat to Adesanya still burns in his soul. For now, though, he’s just looking to get back in the win column. He is targeting anyone in the top-five with his preference being Jack Hermansson.
Eventually, he hopes to run things back with Adesanya.
“I like to be able to fight anybody in the top-five,” Gastelum added. “In my opinion, a fight with Jack Hermansson would make sense. We’re both coming off losses. He’s in the top-five. A win for either of us would take us where we need to go.
“We both need to work our way back up the division, back up to Adesanya. I feel that’s the one that makes sense, but you never know what the matchmakers are thinking.”
Who do you think makes sense for Gastelum next?