Kelvin Gastelum hasn’t been able to get his removal from the UFC 212 card out of his mind.
Gastelum was set to do battle against former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title holder Anderson Silva. The bout would’ve taken place inside the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 3.
Gastelum was pulled from the card after being flagged for a violation of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). He was later suspended for 90 days and had his win over Vitor Belfort revoked as part of a plea agreement.
During a recent appearance on MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour,” Gastelum admitted the situation is deflating:
“I was devastated. I was devastated, and I still am devastated because it was a huge opportunity that I missed. I was dumbfounded, I was in shock, I was so devastated, that’s the only word I can think of and I’m still thinking about it.”
Gastelum’s positive test was for Carboxy-Tetrahydrocannabinol. He has a medical marijuana license in the state of California and explained how cannabis has helped him deal with pain.
“Well, I always stop consuming a few weeks before the fight. I always have in all my fights, and I didn’t do anything different, so you know, I went into the fight thinking nothing was wrong. I’ve found that it helps with pain and really just pain and sleeping. We train so much, I pretty much hurt myself everyday, I’m in pain pretty much everyday, so it’s good to relax the muscles a little bit.”
