“Dana Would Rather You Slap His Wife Than Miss Weight” – Kelvin Gastelum Forcing Dana White’s Hand Gets Ex-UFC Star’s Ultimatum

UFC star and former title contender Kelvin Gastelum missed weight in the UFC for the fourth time last Saturday at the UFC’s first Saudi Arabia event. He was scheduled to take on Daniel Rodriguez originally in a welterweight bout at 170 pounds. However, after it became clear that Gastelum wouldn’t be able to make the welterweight limit, the bout was first slated for a catchweight bout at 180 pounds. But the 32-year-old even seemed unlikely to make 180, and the bout was finally made into a middleweight.

UFC CEO Dana White, who is famously disdainful of fighters missing weight, was predictably not too pleased and admitted that he was “disappointed” at Gastelum. Meanwhile, a former fighter thinks White must be incensed and felt this latest missed weight might be the last straw for the UFC when it comes to Gastelum fighting at 170 pounds.

Kelvin Gastelum’s latest weight issues might fare poorly for his UFC future

On the latest episode of his ‘Thiccc Boy’ podcast, Brendan Schaub spoke about Kelvin Gastelum missing weight for his Rodriguez fight at UFC Fight Night on ABC 6. The former UFC heavyweight believed that the Mexican-American had ticked off Dana White and co., who will be hesitant to trust him and book him at 170 pounds going forward for fear of Gastelum missing weight yet again.

“Dana would rather you slap his wife than miss weight… For Kelvin, you know, it’s been a thing. He’s so gifted, he’s so talented, he’s older. And here’s the thing, when you’re older, it gets tougher to cut weight. Your endocrine system, thyroid, everything it gets tougher and tougher as the older you get… So when he was like ‘oh, I’ll make you 170 I’m coming back, I’m better than ever,’ it’s like I hope but the odds are against him. He might be forced to fight at 185 [from now on],” he said.

Schaub pointed out that as Gastelum was getting up in age, weight cutting would only get more difficult for him. And indeed, medical research has confirmed that it becomes more and more difficult to lose weight as a person gets older. This is because of a variety of factors, including slowed metabolism, the tendency to lose muscle with increasing age, and being at increasing risk of organ damage because of dehydration.

Notably, Gastelum was remorseful about the whole fiasco as he apologized to Dana White and the fans after winning his fight against Rodriguez via a unanimous decision. “Dana [White], Hunter [Campbell] – I want to be the best company man that I can be… I love the UFC… I’m sorry, what happened this week was unacceptable. I promise that I’ll be better,” he said. However, Schaub thinks this has also affected how Gastelum’s peers see him.

Schaub feels this would affect Gastelum’s standing among fellow fighters

Further, during the interaction, the comedian and podcaster pointed out that weight cutting wasn’t only disliked by the UFC and its brass, but also had an adverse impact on a fighter’s reputation among fellow fighters. The former UFC star felt that the struggle and pain a fighter goes through to make weight almost felt like death, and takes a huge toll on an athlete’s well-being. Which makes fighters who do make weight lose respect for others who do not.

“When you want to lose your peers’ respect, miss weight. ‘Cuz those fighters making weight, it’s such a b***h, like those last five pounds are like life and death… Like that’s the toughest thing in sports is when you’re kind of a bigger athlete and you got to make a certain weight… Mentally, physically the most challenging thing period,” he said.

While Schaub, who fought in the UFC’s heaviest division, may not have much experience in cutting weight, other fighters’ testimony does confirm his assertions. Bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, for instance, recently said that cutting weight felt like “dying.” And it seems Gastelum is either not too eager or not able to go through this harrowing process anymore and cut to 170 pounds.

What are your thoughts about Kelvin Gastelum missing weight in many of his UFC fights? Let us know in the comments.