Midnight Mania! Gastelum ‘Dumbfounded’ by Dana’s UFC 225 Comments

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Kelvin Gastelum was taken aback by Dana White’s comments after UFC 225. The UFC president said after the bout that Gastelum had some “personal issues” he needed to “get together and handle. Quick.” Gastelum was not sure what issues Dana was referring to, but he indicated that the ire may be related to not stepping in to save the event after the UFC had refused to pay him to be ready as a late notice replacement.

Transcription via MMAFighting.com:

“I was dumbfounded,” Gastelum said. “Because I don’t know where those comments are coming from. I just figured he was upset over me not taking the fight a day-and-a-half before.”

“My manager was negotiating money to get from that,” Gastelum said. “I wasn’t gonna be doing it for free. That fell through. So they told me that’s not happening.”

Gastelum said his manager had been in negotiations with the UFC to be available as a late notice replacement, but evidently the UFC was unwilling to pay Gastelum, so the negotiations fell through, and Kelvin went to Cancun instead. When Romero’s weight troubles emerged a day and a half before the bout, Gastelum was over 200 pounds and in no condition to make 185 in that time-frame.

“I looked down at my belly and I’m like, ‘No, I don’t think I can do this in a day and a half,’” Gastelum said with a laugh. … “In a day and a half’s notice while I’ve been out drinking and eating, I probably would have been in the hospital if I would have tried that.”

Gastelum has had numerous weight cutting troubles before, which is the reason he is now fighting at middleweight instead of welterweight. Riding a two-fight win streak over Michael Bisping and Jacare Souza, Gastelum feels he is next in line for the middleweight title and has no issues with a title fight in November, though it’s not clear how soon Robert Whittaker will be back after breaking his hand. Either way, Gastelum is happy Whittaker won, though he thought the decision would go Romero’s way.

“I thought Romero would have been getting the nod, but obviously he didn’t,” Gastelum said. “And selfishly I thought, I was hoping they’d give it to Whittaker. Just because Romero had missed weight, he wouldn’t have been getting the belt and then it just would have created this whole scenario where I’m definitely not getting the next shot. It just wouldn’t be a position where I would be fighting for a title any time soon.”

But first, he probably needs to sort out his relationship with the UFC’s boss first.

“I would love to sit down and see what those comments are about,” Gastelum said. “I just haven’t reached out to him about it. Eventually, I want to sit down with him and talk to him and meet with him and see what the future holds.”

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