In January 2015, Tyron Woodley and Kelvin Gastelum did battle in a three round welterweight bout at UFC 183 and although it was a closely fought contest, Woodley ultimately walked away with a split-decision victory.
Since then, Gastelum has moved up to middleweight primarily due to weight cutting issues, emerging as a contender and most recently knocking out former champion Michael Bisping. Woodley, on the other hand, has become the 170-pound champion, defending the title three times to date.
Next weekend, Gastelum will return to action in a pivotal bout against Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and while he expects to fight for the 185-pound title in the near future, he also still has a rematch with Woodley on his mind:
“Eventually, I’m going to be fighting for that title at middleweight, which is crazy,” Gastelum said in a recent media scrum in Los Angeles (transcript via MMAjunkie). “But yeah, in my eyes, in the back of my head – way in the back of my head – I still have welterweight in mind.
“That fight is like a splinter in my heart,” he added. “I kind of want to get that fight back – make the weight, make it right. In a lot of people’s eyes, including myself, I won that fight.”
Woodley is currently recovering from shoulder injury but it’s unlikely that he’ll be moving up to middleweight any time soon. If Gastelum were indeed to get the green light from the UFC to drop back down in weight, perhaps the rematch could take place.
As far as the fight with “Jacare” goes though, Gastelum feels as if he’s prepared as best he could:
“You can only prepare and strategize the best you can, and I feel like I’ve done that,” Gastelum said. “I feel like I’m prepared to the best of my abilities for what he brings to the table.”
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