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Kelvin Gastelum wins bloody battle after comically missing weight for a fifth time ahead of Noche UFC
Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Kelvin Gastelum went the distance with Dustin Stoltzfus after missing weight for the fifth time in his UFC career.

The Hall of Fame middleweight had been unable to make welterweight four times prior in his run, but had always tipped the scales properly for the 186lb limit. However, he was embarrassingly heavy at weigh-ins for Noche UFC, coming in at a career-highest of 191lb.

Stoltzfus ended up pocketing a whopping 35 per cent of his rival’s purse in order to make the fight still happen this evening. And it ended up going the way of Gastelum, who returned to winning ways after accepting the fight on four weeks’ notice.

Kelvin Gastelum vs Dustin Stoltzfus Noche UFC Result

Kelvin Gastelum was allowed to fight on against Dustin Stoltzfus despite his weight miss, and the latter opened the fight rightly with shots to the body. The former title contender still looked slick and sharp with his hands as they exchanged early.

The first round was a tough one to call, but Stoltzfus’ efforts for a finish on the ground after being cut open likely did it for him. However, the second saw Gastelum wobble Stoltzfus with a combination on the feet as he began to ease into the fight.

And with seconds to go in the second, a three-piece combination from Gastelum saw Stoltzfus brutally dropped. Somehow, though, as the round ended it was Stoltzfus who had gained top position and unleashed big shots as Gastelum attempted to stand up.

The pair went the distance after three intense rounds, with the scorecards going 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 for Gastelum who apologized for missing weight.

Kelvin Gastelum’s weight miss for Noche UFC was disastrous

Yesterday’s weigh-in result was not a major shock for Gastelum, but was definitely the worst weight miss of his career. After four previous periods of grace, fans were calling for his head, and it was something of a surprise given recent history that the fight went ahead at all.


Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

After making media and commission officials wait almost the entire two-hour window, Gastelum finally arrived on the scales just before cut-off time in Texas. He didn’t even use the curtain to strip down and allowed the enormity of the miss to be fully on display.

Gastelum posed with arms flexed for the entirety of the manual weighing in process, which resulted in him being announced at 191lb. He missed once a year from 2014 to 2016 before eventually being forced up a division, where he became a world title contender.

This article first appeared on Bloody Elbow and was syndicated with permission.

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