Tag: Kelvin Gastelum

Luke Rockhold Promises To Slap ‘Midget’ Kelvin Gastelum

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will get another crack at the title when he squares off with newly minted undisputed champion Robert Whittaker in the main event of February 10’s UFC 221 from Perth, Australia. But it’s been a long road back for the onetime heir apparent to Anderson Silva as the 185-pound greatest […]

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Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will get another crack at the title when he squares off with newly minted undisputed champion Robert Whittaker in the main event of February 10’s UFC 221 from Perth, Australia.

But it’s been a long road back for the onetime heir apparent to Anderson Silva as the 185-pound greatest of all-time (even though ‘The Spider’s legacy has, unfortunately, come into question as of late). Cocksure of a long reign, Rockhold infamously lost his title to Michael Bisping at 2016’s UFC 199, sparking a year-and-a-half of outright chaos when ‘The Count’ refused to fight any top contender and lost the belt to returning welterweight king Georges St-Pierre last month.

Now that St-Pierre has left 185 and vacated his title, the deeply packed division has some semblance of order restored, yet during the chaos, a new star emerged in Kelvin Gastelum, who knocked out Bisping at UFC Shanghai on November 25. He also thinks himself a more rightful contender to the middleweight throne than Rockhold despite a recent loss to former champ Chris Weidman in July, whom Rockhold demolished to win the belt initially at UFC 194.

Speaking up on his sudden rival to Submission Radio (quotes via MMA Fighting), Rockhold affirmed his view that he was the more deserving fighter. With that said, he viewed it as humorous Gastelum to run his mouth and suggest otherwise:

“I know I’ve proven myself,” Rockhold said. “I’ve accomplished things in this sport, whereas little m**gets like Kelvin Gastelum haven’t. I’ve destroyed Chris Weidman, which he got destroyed by Weidman, so it’s like ehh [shrugs].

“This kid hasn’t beaten really anybody and done anything in this sport, and for him to run his mouth, it’s pretty funny. It’s laughable. He’ll find out real if he continues his efforts at 185. I’d slap that kid down real quick. Real quick.”

It seems Gastelum is not on Rockhold’s radar despite some truly excellent knockouts in the class. He’s more focused on surging champion Whittaker, who has fought and defeated the absolute cream of the crop – something he wants to do himself:

“Whittaker’s been the champ for a long time, so he’s the goal, of course. The best is always the goal, being on top is the goal and Whittaker’s proved himself for a long time now. He’s been on top, he’s beaten all the top guys, he’s the man. . .

“I wanna fight Whittaker, I want to fight the best. It would’ve been – I’m a realist, and I know that neither [Georges St-Pierre nor Michael Bisping], win or lose, would fight any of us. They’re both gonna try and run off, ride off into the sunset and not fight the fight. I respect Whittaker for stepping up and fighting me. I know he had options to take a lesser opponent, the fans wanted this and this is what it is. He’s a true champion, he’s gonna fight the No. 1 contenders.”

Credit goes to ‘The Reaper’ for getting middleweight moving once again, and there’s little doubt that the fight will be a true match of two of the top competitors in the historical division, which can’t be said of the Bisping-St-Pierre period.

The winner will be middleweight one and only true king, and in today’s unpredictable fighting climate, that’s certainly a sight for sore eyes for fans.

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Yoel Romero’s Manager Claims Title Contender Turned Down Fight At UFC Belem

UFC middleweight title contender Kelvin Gastelum attempted to get a title shot against Robert Whittaker. However, despite his attempt at campaigning his case to UFC officials, the promotion decided to go in a different direction as they thought former champion Luke Rockhold was more deserving of the opportunity. Keep in mind that this bout all […]

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UFC middleweight title contender Kelvin Gastelum attempted to get a title shot against Robert Whittaker.

However, despite his attempt at campaigning his case to UFC officials, the promotion decided to go in a different direction as they thought former champion Luke Rockhold was more deserving of the opportunity.

Keep in mind that this bout all came about after Georges St-Pierre vacated the belt following his big win over Michael Bisping at UFC 217 last month.

With the fight already made official for the 185-pound title on Feb. 11 at UFC 221 in Perth, Australia, Gastelum is in need of his next opponent.

MMA manager Malki Kawa, who works with the likes of Jon Jones and Yoel Romero, is claiming that Gastelum turned down a fight with Romero at UFC Belem.

Romero, who is ranked at #2 in the official middleweight rankings, lost his first fight under the UFC banner this past July by losing via decision to Whittaker in an interim title bout at UFC 213. He holds wins over the likes of Lyoto Machida, ‘Jacare’ Souza, and Chris Weidman.

On the flip side, Gastelum, who won 2013’s Ultimate Fighter 17 middleweight tournament, feels he should have been granted the title shot over Rockhold. He is coming off a huge first-round KO win over Bisping. It’s likely he will respond to Kawa in the coming days.

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Michael Bisping Addresses His Decision To Fight Kelvin Gastelum

Fight fans are still talking about former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping’s decision to take a short notice fight at UFC Shanghai against Kelvin Gastelum. This comes after a few weeks after he suffered a devastating loss to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 for the middleweight title. As seen in the fight, it didn’t go […]

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Fight fans are still talking about former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping’s decision to take a short notice fight at UFC Shanghai against Kelvin Gastelum. This comes after a few weeks after he suffered a devastating loss to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 for the middleweight title.

As seen in the fight, it didn’t go very well for Bisping as he was brutally knocked out by Gastelum in the very first round. Bisping’s own coach, Jason Parillo, even suggested that Gastelum was “a bigger threat” than St-Pierre, but Bisping carried on anyway

The former middleweight champion opened up on his decision to accept this fight on a recent episode of his Believe You Me podcast. He noted that he thinks it was the wrong choice to have such a quick turnaround after a brutal loss and training camp.

“It didn’t go my way, as everybody knows and saw,” said Bisping (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “I felt great going into that fight, I did. Looking back in hindsight, was I overtrained and emotionally and physically tired? Yes I was, but the problem with having a f**king huge ego and thinking you can still beat people is that I knew that but I still thought I could beat Kelvin Gastelum. Not taking anything away from him. He caught me with a beautiful left hook that put me down. God bless him.

“It was a big gamble, it didn’t pay off. Had it paid off it would have been great, but that’s what you do. You roll the dice, you give it a shot, and you hope for the best, and the best man, I guess that was Kelvin so well done to him.”

This marked Bisping’s second brutal stoppage loss in November. Thus, after seeing this, it has brought attention and questions about the safety of allowing a fighter to compete so soon after suffering a serious loss.

It should be noted that the three week turnaround was the shortest of Bisping’s career and the first time in that he has lost back-to-back fights.

Make no mistake about it, the promotion wanted to save this card after former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was pulled from the main event for a USADA violation. While some can accept the reasoning behind the booking of the bout, some fight fans can’t believe it was made official.

“That fight was me trying to exorcise some inner demons and try and get back in the win column ASAP.,” Bisping explained. “As I said, it was a huge gamble, and for many reasons, it was the wrong move, but I don’t regret it. If you look at the grand scheme of things . . . I can see that it was the wrong move, but at the time it felt right, so I don’t regret it.

“After the GSP fight, when I agree to take the Kelvin Gastelum fight, I thought, ‘Well, I just had a week off, but I was in great shape, so let’s get right back to it,’ and I sparred everyday for a week. That’s all I did for Kelvin, Southpaws, five rounds, for five days, and then I flew out to China, and I was just done. Emotionally, physically, mentally, I was just spent.”

Unlike the St-Pierre fight, Bisping noted this one doesn’t bother him because he’s at peace with his career.

“I’m not looking to become champion again, I’m looking to finish off my career with a couple of fun fights. I went out there, I didn’t get the job done. I couldn’t give a f**k about rankings. I’m not trying to be the champion again. I had that, that was fun, it was a nice time in my life, I can always claim to have had that title, and now it’s time to move on with my life.

“I’m totally fine with it. I’m 38 years old. I’ve got a wife and kids. I’ve got other things I want to focus on in life. Will I do one more fight? Yeah, probably. But that phase of my life now is done, and I’m happy with that. . . You can’t fight forever. I was a champion, no one remains a champion forever, and I’m proud of that.”

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UFC Shanghai Medical Suspensions: Michael Bisping Out for 60 Days

Following a brutal 1st round knockout loss to Kelvin Gastelum in the top bill of the Shanghai event, Michael Bisping has been ordered to take some time out The UFC released details of medical suspensions in a report on Tuesday to mixedmartialarts.com. …

Following a brutal 1st round knockout loss to Kelvin Gastelum in the top bill of the Shanghai event, Michael Bisping has been ordered to take some time out The UFC released details of medical suspensions in a report on Tuesday to mixedmartialarts.com. Three weeks after his UFC 217 title loss submission to Georges St-Pierre, Bisping […]

UFC Shanghai Medical Suspensions: Michael Bisping Faces Lengthy Layoff

With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle at UFC Shanghai, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions. Some of the more notable suspensions include Michael Bisping being suspended for 60 days after being finished in the first round by Kelvin Gastelum […]

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With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle at UFC Shanghai, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions.

Some of the more notable suspensions include Michael Bisping being suspended for 60 days after being finished in the first round by Kelvin Gastelum in a middleweight bout that headlined the event while Li Jingliang got 7 days for beating Zak Ottow in a welterweight bout that served as the co-main event. Ottow is out for 180 days.

Rounding out the four bout main card was Alex Caceres vs. Wang Guan in a featherweight bout and Muslim Salikhov vs. Alex Garcia in a welterweight bout. Here are the entire medical suspensions:

Kelvin Gastelum: suspended 7 days

Michael Bisping: suspended 60 days due to KO and 45 days no contact

Li Jingliang: suspended 7 days

Zak Ottow: suspended 180 days or until cleared by orthopedic doctor for right hand, and suspended minimum 30 days with 21 days no contact
Wang Guan: suspended 7 days

Alex Caceres: suspended 45 days due to right eyelid laceration and 30 days no contact

Alex Garcia: suspended 7 days

Muslim Salikhov: suspended 7 days

Zabit Magomedsharipov: suspended 7 days

Sheymon Moraes: suspended minimum 30 days with 21 days no contact for hard bout

Song Kenan: suspended 7 days

Bobby Nash: suspended minimum 45 days with 30 days no contact for TKO

Yan Xiaonan: suspended 45 days due to lip laceration and 30 days no contact

Kailin Curran: suspended minimum 30 days with 21 days no contact for hard bout

Song Yadong: suspended 180 days or until cleared by orthopedic doctor for right foot, and suspended minimum 30 days with 21 days no contact

Bhahat Kandare: suspended minimum 30 days with 21 days no contact for hard bout

Shamil Abdurakhimov: suspended 180 days or until cleared by orthopedic doctor for left thumb, and suspended minimum 30 days with 21 days no contact

Chase Sherman: suspended minimum 45 days with 30 days no contact for TKO

Gina Mazany: suspended 180 days or until cleared by X-ray for left toe, and suspended minimum 30 days with 21 days no contact

Wu Yanan: suspended minimum 30 days with 21 days no contact

Rolando Dy: suspended 7 days

Wuliji Buren: suspended minimum 30 days with 21 days no contact for hard bout

Cyril Asker: suspended 7 days

Hu Yaozong: suspended minimum 30 days with 21 days no contact for hard bout

UFC Shanghai (Fight Night 122) took place on Saturday, November 25, 2017, at Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai, China. The main card aired on the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass, at 7 a.m. ET while the preliminary card also aired on Fight Pass at 3:45 a.m. ET.

 

 

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Quote: Michael Bisping ‘Shouldn’t Have Been Allowed To Fight’ At UFC Shanghai

Fight fans are still talking about former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping’s decision to take a short notice fight this past Saturday at UFC Shanghai against Kelvin Gastelum. This comes after a few weeks after he suffered a devastating loss to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 for the middleweight title. As seen in the fight, […]

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Fight fans are still talking about former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping’s decision to take a short notice fight this past Saturday at UFC Shanghai against Kelvin Gastelum. This comes after a few weeks after he suffered a devastating loss to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 for the middleweight title.

As seen in the fight, it didn’t go very well for Bisping as he was brutally knocked out by Gastelum in the very first round.

This marked Bisping’s second brutal stoppage loss this month. Thus, after seeing this, it has brought attention and questions about the safety of allowing a fighter to compete so soon after suffering a serious loss.

One of those people who is talking about this topic is longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who said on his JRE MMA Show podcast (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting), that Bisping should not have been allowed to take the Gastelum fight.

“I don’t think you should be allowed to fight three weeks after you have a brutal fight like Michael Bisping did with GSP. He got rocked, he got choked unconscious, and then three weeks later, he’s fighting a really dangerous young and up-and-coming Kelvin Gastelum. Kelvin is a beast.

“Would he have been able to do that if he fought the Bisping who was training for Georges St-Pierre? If Bisping did not have the Georges St-Pierre fight and just went right into the Kelvin Gastelum fight, would the same result have happened?”

It should be noted that the three week turnaround was the shortest of Bisping’s career and the first time in that he has lost back-to-back fights.

The promotion wanted to save this card after former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was pulled from the main event for a USADA violation. While some can accept the reasoning behind the booking of the bout, some fight fans can’t believe it was made official.

Rogan understands that this is a perfect example of short-sighted and dangerous thinking because Bisping is never going to say “no,” even if he should.

“You really have to protect the fighter from themselves. You really can’t be letting a guy fight three weeks after an absolutely brutal fight like that. It just does not make sense. It does not make sense. I don’t think it’s smart.

“I understand the UFC needed someone to fill in on short notice because Anderson Silva tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and they did not want to lose the Shanghai main event, so it turns into an even bigger fight when you’ve got the former middleweight champion right off his loss, three weeks later fighting again, but it’s just not smart. I know Bisping wanted to do it, and I know Bisping would probably do it again if you asked him to do it. If you asked Bisping to fight in a few weeks, he would probably do it again.”

“Someone was talking about him fighting in England, I believe in March. Boy, that’s less crazy, but still, crazy because we’re basically into December. So you’ve got December, January, February, three months off, really, and then March. But during that time he’s going to be sparring and you know Bisping, he’s a f**king animal. He’s not gonna take much time off. Fighters need time off after fights.”

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