Kelvin Gastelum claims welterweight “has always been my division” ahead of return at UFC Austin

Kelvin Gastelum believes he has always been a welterweight.

Gastelum is set to return to the welterweight division for the first time since 2016 when he fought Johny Hendricks. Since then, he has been competing at middleweight and had a very up-and-down career going 5-6 with one No Contest, and after going 2-5 in his last seven he decided to make the move back to welterweight against Sean Brady at UFC Austin.

“This has always been my division. I had success at middleweight, so I stayed there, stayed complacent. It didn’t work out for me in the end, so I had to get out of my comfort zone a little bit and dedicate to my diet a little more. This has always been my rightful weight class, man,” Gastelum said at UFC Austin media day.

With Kelvin Gastelum back at his rightful weight class, he says he hasn’t been this skinny or lean in years, which he says has made him feel great and ready to perform on Saturday.

“I feel great, man, I haven’t felt this great in years, I haven’t been this skinny in years. I haven’t been this lean in years, I feel good. We put in a lot of work. Like I said, we’re on the other side of it. I feel good,” Gastelum.

In his return to the welterweight division, Kelvin Gastelum is getting thrown to the deep end as he will face Sean Brady who’s ranked ninth at welterweight. It is a tough task, but should Gastelum win, he knows he’s immediately right in the title picture at 170lbs, which he says is his rightful weight class.

Gastelum enters the fight coming off a decision win over Chris Curtis back in April. That was his first fight in a year-and-a-half and after he lost two straight main events to Jared Cannonier and Robert Whittaker.