Kelvin Gastelum Never Wants To Fight In Brazil Again After Win Overturned
Kelvin Gastelum is over fighting in Brazil following his 90-day suspension as well as fine and his win over Vitor Belfort being overturned following a positive drug test for marijuana surrounding their fight back in March. Gastelum’s post-fight drug test returned positive for Carboxy-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Carboxy-THC), which is a metabolite of marijuana and/or hashish above the 180 ng/mL allowance by the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) standard.
On Sunday, The Superior Tribunal de Justica Desportiva do MMA — the Brazilian Superior Justice Court of MMA — released a statement announcing that Gastelum’s TKO victory over the MMA legend would be overturned to a no contest on Monday.
Not only will the win be overturned but Gastelum will also have to pay a 20-percent fine (his purse was not disclosed) as well as a 90-day suspension retroactive to March 11, which was the date of the contest with Belfort. According to the document that was released on Sunday, the Brazilian court worked in coordination with USADA as well as CABMMA, the Brazilian athletic commission. It was noted that Gastelum will not likely face any additional penalties from USADA as part of the settlement agreement.
Following the news being announced, Gastelum took to Twitter where he declared that he will no longer compete in Brazil due to the punishment that was dished out for a positive marijuana test.
“Suspension accepted, but I will never fight in Brazil again. All they want is [money],” Gastelum wrote.
Suspension accepted, but i will NEVER fight in Brazil again. All they want is $$$$
— #OnAmission4Gold (@KelvinGastelum) May 7, 2017
To top it all off, the positive drug test will also cost Gastelum a fight with Anderson Silva that was previously scheduled for UFC 212 in Brazil on June 3. Although Gastelum has requested the fight be rebook for the FOX 25 event on July 22 in New York, UFC officials have not booked Gastelum for another fight since he was pulled from UFC 212. Silva has already come out and stated that he will not take another fight unless it is for the interim middleweight title, which is currently held by Michael Bisping. This may be an issue due to Bisping supposedly fighting Georges St-Pierre sometime later year. Silva, who last defeated Derek Brunson at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, recently claimed that if he does not get the fight, then he would walk away from fighting. Gastelum threw down the challenge on recently on Twitter:
“My apologies and respects to @SpiderAnderson, I Can’t make it to the dance in Rio, how about we dance in New York in July? @ufc @UFCONFOX.”
The UFC has yet to announce the main event for UFC on FOX 25, and with the UFC needing strong main events, Gastelum vs. Silva could very well headline UFC on FOX 25. Time will tell whether the UFC books this fight or Silva retires.
