Kelvin Gastelum (12-2) was supposed to fight Donald Cerrone at UFC 205 earlier this month, but his latest struggles with making the welterweight limit resulted in the bout’s cancellation. The TUF 17 winner didn’t even attempt to go to the scales at the official weigh-ins, a sign that he was otherwise well overweight.
The New York State Athletic Commission has punished Gastelum for this infraction, handing down a six-month administrative suspension for missing the weigh-ins. You may be thinking that this means Gastelum won’t be able to fight anywhere, but that may not necessarily be the case. MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi explained the situation on Monday.
“An administrative suspension is different from a typical commission suspension in that it does not have to be reciprocated by other jurisdictions. So, Gastelum is definitely unable to compete in New York over the next six months, but other commissions can allow him to fight.
Gastelum has not been suspended across the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC) database, sources told MMA Fighting.”
Meanwhile, with Rashad Evans vs. Tim Kennedy scrapped from UFC 206, the UFC is looking into booking Gastelum vs. Kennedy for the December 10th show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
In an interesting development on Tuesday, Okamoto also reported that the suspension has been added to the ABC database, and that Gastelum’s team had 30 days to appeal. MMA Fighting also confirmed that Gastelum’s suspension was put in the database, making him ineligible to compete at 206 or any other ABC jurisdiction. Gastelum’s team is confirmed to be appealing the decision.
Gastelum’s team also told Ariel Helwani that a possible fight with Kennedy, which would be at 185, would be a one-off, and that Gastelum would return to 170, where he’s missed weight three times. That’s a slightly different outlook on Gastelum’s future at welterweight than the one Dana White had in mind.
Speaking of suspensions, Thiago Alves was suspended for 3 months after his huge weight miss for his fight vs. Jim Miller.
Per source, Thiago Alves was also suspended three months for missing weight by NYSAC. If you miss weight in NY, it’s automatic suspension.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) November 22, 2016
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