Chris Weidman vs. Kelvin Gastelum Reportedly Targeted For Summer
The UFC could be in store for quiet the middleweight showdown this summer.
According to a report from MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, UFC officials are targeting a match-up between former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman and Kelvin Gastelum. The bout is being targeted for the promotion’ return to New York on July 22nd:
Talks are Gastelum vs Weidman on 7/22 in NY. Not 100% just yet. Suspect we'll find out more tomorrow at the presser. https://t.co/TOcWwmMdcm
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 11, 2017
The presser Helwani refers to is the UFC Summer Kickoff press conference which is set to go down later on today (Fri. May 12, 2017). A slew of new bouts are expected to be announced, and Weidman vs. Gastelum could be one of them.
Weidman is a former UFC champion who was the first man to defeat Anderson Silva under the promotion’s banner. He suffered the first loss of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career back in December of 2015 when he was defeated by Luke Rockhold via fourth round TKO.
He then went on to suffer a third round knockout loss to Yoel Romero at UFC 205 in New York City, followed by a second round TKO loss to Gegard Mousasi via a controversial call by the referee.
Gastelum is now on a two-fight win streak after having his last victory overturned. He defeated Johny Hendricks via unanimous decision at UFC 200 last year, and then stopped veteran Tim Kennedy in the third round of their clash at UFC 206 from Toronto.
The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 (TUF 17) winner went on to finish former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort in Brazil, however, Gastelum was recently flagged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after he tested positive for marijuana in-competition. His win was later overturned to a No Contest.
Gastelum was originally slated to face Anderson Silva at UFC 212 on pay-per-view (PPV) from Brazil, however, after his USADA incident he was removed from the contest.
We’ll keep you updated as more becomes available. Stick with LowKick for coverage of today’s UFC Summer Kickoff Presser!
