[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH 12, 2015, 1:40 PM]
During a recent appearance on MMA Junkie Radio, UFC contender Kelvin Gastelum revealed that the company wanted him to fight at UFC 183 in January despite being hospitalized 24-hours earlier.
“I don’t ever make excuses, and I don’t want to say what it was that happened, but a lot of things were going on in my life at the time,” said Gastelum, who went on to loss his UFC 183 bout against Tyron Woodley via decision after missing weight the day before.
Gastelum continued, “I was thinking about maybe not taking the fight or maybe pulling out of the fight a few weeks before, but that’s not my style. I don’t pull out of fight.”
The former undefeated contender went on to reveal his belief that the fight against Woodley would be cancelled, noting that he was dealing with complications during his weight cut that resulted in him being hospitalized.
“I was kind of taken by surprise that the UFC wanted me to continue to take this fight,” Gastelum said. “I was surprised by that, but I was just going with the flow. They were telling me what to do, and I was doing it.”
After missing weight the day before the fight, UFC President Dana White claimed Gastelum would be forced to move up to the middleweight division, however Gastelum is claiming otherwise.
“I plan on staying at welterweight,” Gastelum said during a recent FOX Sports interview. “If Dana (White) and Joe (Silva) want to give me a fight at middleweight that’s fine, too. But I’m going to keep fighting to stay at welterweight.”
