Kelvin Gastelum wasn’t Chris Weidman’s first choice for his next opponent.
Weidman will meet Gastelum tomorrow night (July 22) inside the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. The “All-American” will be looking to snap a three-fight skid.
Following the controversy surrounding his TKO loss to Gegard Mousasi, Weidman hoped to have a rematch with “The Dreamcatcher.” Instead, Mousasi signed with Bellator. The former middleweight champion told MMAJunkie.com that the hope of facing Mousasi again caused him to hesitate on taking the UFC on FOX 25 bout:
“There was a little hesitation, because I wanted the Mousasi rematch. And then we were finding out that he probably wasn’t going to (re-sign with the UFC), they offered me this fight, and I couldn’t turn it down.”
Weidman went on to say that he’s moved on from wanting the rematch.
“I’m over it. He’s moved on. You don’t hold on to things. It’s the match I wanted, but he moved on; he’s doing whatever he has to do for himself, and I’ve got to focus on what I’ve got to do.”
Other fights on the main card include Dennis Bermudez vs. Darren Elkins, Patrick Cummins vs. Gian Villante, and Jimmie Rivera vs. Thomas Almeida.
