Kelvin Gastelum admits his actions were “unacceptable” ahead of, and during, fight week – but he walked away with a win anyway.
At UFC on ABC 6 on Saturday, Gastelum (19-9 MMA, 13-9 UFC) defeated Daniel Rodriguez (17-5 MMA, 7-4 UFC) via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27). The bout was part of the main card at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
At the beginning of fight week, and obviously from the time it was signed, the bout was slated for welterweight. However, failed weight preparation by Gastelum resulted in the fight being bumped to middleweight. Rodriguez claimed he asked for a 180-pound catchweight, but Gastelum was unable to oblige.
So after three competitive rounds of fighting during which both men found success on the feet, Gastelum apologized to Dana White and Hunter Campbell for the blunder.
“Dana, Hunter, man, I want to be the best company man that I can be,” Gastelum said during his in-cage interview. “I have the best intentions for this company. I love the UFC. I want to stay in the UFC forever, for as long as I can. I’m sorry. What happened this week was unacceptable. So I promise I will be better. I know I’ve said that before, but I’m not a perfect person. I always try to be better. It is what it is.”
Gastelum looked fresh throughout his performance Saturday as Rodriguez wore down, mouth agape for much of the fight. While both men landed their share of strikes, Gastelum successfully integrated his wrestling on the advice of corners Eddie Cha and Santino Defranco, which may have won him the round.
#UFCSaudiArabia results: Kelvin Gastelum (@KelvinGastelum) def. Daniel Rodriguez via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Full coverage: https://t.co/SvVFSKMWTf pic.twitter.com/9GsFTd0vIM
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) June 22, 2024
With the victory, Gastelum wins for the third time in his most recent four appearances and bounces back from a December loss to Sean Brady.
Rodriguez falls into a three-fight skid that also includes losses to Neil Magny and Ian Machado Garry.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ABC 6 results include:
- Kelvin Gastelum def. Daniel Rodriguez via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
- Shara Magomedov def. Antonio Trocoli via knockout (punches) – Round 3, 2:27
- Volkan Oezdemir def. Johnny Walker via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 2:28
- Nasrat Haqparast def. Jared Gordon via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Felipe Lima def. Muhammad Naimov via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 1:15
- Rinat Fakhretdinov def. Nicolas Dalby via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Muin Gafurov def. Kyung Ho Kang via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Magomed Gadzhiyasulov def. Brendson Ribeiro via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)
- ChangHo Lee def. Xiao Long via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 6.
