SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Kelvin Gastelum is looking to turn things around in his fighting career.
A UFC middleweight and winner of The Ultimate Fighter 17, Gastelum (17-8 MMA, 11-8 UFC) is determined to bounce back from a losing skid and improve form now that he made major changes in his life.
Gastelum moved from California to Arizona, and switched teams from Kings MMA to Fight Ready over the course of the past year.
“Well, first of all, California, I had to get the hell out of there,” Gastelum told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “It was crazy expensive. It was actually something that had ran through my mind before, and when the opportunity to move, I freaking did it.
“Other than that, I need to change my game up. Things aren’t going the way I want them in my career. I need to switch things up. I made some radical changes by coming out here to Fight Ready and coming out here to Arizona, and you know, changing my whole environment, changing where I live and getting real uncomfortable.
“I think that’s really what it was. I was at a really good, comfortable position in Huntington Beach, living really good, but I needed to get out of that. I needed to switch things up in my life and make sure this is really wanted to do, and it is.”
Gastelum has yet to fight under the Fight Ready team. He was supposed to have his first fight under the new banner in April at UFC 273, but an injury forced him out of the even. Gastelum will go without competing in 2022, as he’s scheduled to return on Jan. 14 vs. Nassourdine Imavov at a UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas.
“It hasn’t been my best year, but I’m an optimistic person, so I always kept my head pretty positive even though it hasn’t been the best of situations this year,” Gastelum said. “So here we are. I’m recovered from my injury, and I’m about to jump into another camp here at Fight Ready, and hopefully the fight does go through.
“Last time I got injured one week out, and it was very unfortunate, and it’s been a rough process to get to this point, but here we are.”
Gastelum is 1-5 in his past six fights. Not so long ago in 2019, the Mexican-American pushed current champion Israel Adesanya like never before in an ultra competitive fight that stands in the minds of many as one of the best title fights in middleweight history.
The 31-year-old fighter is confident the switch can make him a title contender once again.
“I’ve learned so much,” Gastelum said about his pivot to Fight Ready. “I think my game has grown so much as well. It’s a different environment, a different set of eyes, a different way of doing things, and it’s worked out well. I’ve had a full training camp until I got injured, so I can’t wait to get in there and show people what I’ve been working on.”
