Kelvin Gastelum continues to have scale problems.
Gastelum (18-9 MMA, 12-9 UFC) is scheduled to face Daniel Rodríguez (17-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in a welterweight bout on the main card of Saturday’s UFC on ABC 6 (ABC/ESPN/ESPN+) at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Gastelum, who moved up to middleweight after missing weight twice to 170 pounds, opted to return to welterweight for his most recent fight. He successfully made weight but was submitted by Sean Brady in December.
However, Gastelum admitted he is having a difficult time moving down to welterweight for the fight against Rodriguez in what he described as a difficult training camp.
“To be honest, this has been a really tough training camp,” Gastelum said during Thursday’s UFC on ABC 6 media day (h/t Crazy about MMA). “There are a lot of things that happened behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t know about, can’t see, but it’s been really hard to get my weight down and gain weight this time – harder than last time.
“…I’m quite worried this week, but we’ll talk to the coach and come up with the best game plan. But I think we will have a sudden weight reduction.”
Rodriguez said he was contacted by the UFC about Gastelum’s big fight and wasn’t happy about it.
“Actually, the matchmakers got in touch and I tried to make catchweight, but he must be having such a bad fight camp that he can’t even do a 180,” Rodriguez said. “I’m currently 179 kilos, so I have to put on weight again.
“It’s been 13 weeks since I found out about this fight. I’m sure he does too. So the fact that he’s saying he’s having a bad fight (for weight loss) doesn’t make sense. I feel like it’s a lack of discipline. I don’t know if he’s having a bad fight camp or if he’s just being lazy and doesn’t want to make weight.”
Rodriguez said he accepted that the fight against Gastelum will now be at middleweight. Having lost two in a row, Rodriguez felt he was in no position to turn down the weight change.
“I’ve already agreed to 185,” Rodriguez said. “I am very committed to this fight. This put me in a very difficult situation, I need this fight to happen. It was a very long fighting camp and I agreed to take a percentage of his purse, which is fair.
“I thought 180 would be a good weight, but it’s not the first time I’ve been in the company and I want the UFC to know that I’m that guy who will make sacrifices even if it’s not in my favor. … In the sense of being professional, I feel like I lost a little respect for the guy.”
For more information on the card, visit the MMA Junkie events hub to UFC on ABC 6.
