Kelvin Gastelum Has Win Overturned For Using Marijuana

It looks like Kelvin Gastelum’s recent run-in with USADA is going to cost him much more than it already has.

According to a report from MMA Fighting, Gastelum has agreed to a plea deal with the Brazilian MMA Sports Court (STJDMMA) and will be fined 20 percent of his purse, be suspended for 90 days, and have his original win over Vitor Belfort at March 11’s UFC Fight Night 106 overturned to a no contest after he failed an in-competition drug test for marijuana metabolites.

The potential violation already cost him by far the biggest fight of his career, as he lost a massive fight with legendary former champion Anderson Silva when the drug test failure was announced. It’s the latest in a long history of outside-the-cage failures for Gastelum, who is undoubtedly one of the brightest prospects in a stacked UFC 185-pound division.

But he essentially forced to move back up the class he originally won The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 17 at when he failed to make 170 on several occasions, including before bouts with Tyron Woodley and Donald Cerrone, the latter of which had to be called off prior to last November’s UFC 205.

Gastelum will allegedly face “aggressive sanction” if he fails another test for marijuana and is forced to go in front of the STJDMMA a second time according to Sedlmayer. The other side of the argument, of course, is that marijuana is absolutely not a performance-enhancing drug that should carry even close to the weight of failing a test for any kind of anabolic steroid, diuretic, estrogen blocker, or any truly performance-improving substance.

That’s the age-old debate in MMA, however, and fighters clearly know the rules regardless of how ludicrous the punishment may seen as of right now. Gastelum lost his biggest win and subsequently his biggest fight, and will now be forced to rebuild his name once again.

All for some marijuana.