Kelvin Gastelum in a “good place” ahead of UFC Fight Island after battling “some demons”

UFC middleweight Kelvin Gastelum believes he is in a good place heading into his UFC Fight Island showdown with Jack Hermansson.

In early 2019 there was a whole lot of momentum behind The Ultimate Fighter 17 winner after he beat Michael Bisping and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in back-to-back fights. Unfortunately for him, since then, he’s been on a two-fight skid after losing an epic encounter against Israel Adesanya before falling to a split decision loss against rising contender Darren Till.

During a recent interview with the media in the lead-up to his return this weekend, Gastelum spoke candidly about the issues he’s been facing.

“I’m actually in a really good place mentally and physically, which really wasn’t the case for my last two fights,” Gastelum said (via MMA Junkie). “I’m not putting any excuses. There’s a lot of things that go on behind the scenes for a lot of fighters, but that’s in the past. … So now I’m in a good place mentally, physically. Man, I feel really good coming into this fight.”

“It was just some personal stuff going on behind the scenes in my life, and we eliminated that aspect, and I feel like a resurgence in me, and I really enjoyed the process for this camp, which really hasn’t been the case in the past. And waking up and training and dieting and losing the weight – I enjoyed every single day of this process, and so I’m in a good place mentally, physically. I’m ready to go.”

During the same media day session, Gastelum made it crystal clear that there is one man he’d love to have a rematch with above all others – Darren Till.

“Yeah, I thought I wanted a rematch before,” Gastelum said. “I lost to guys like Neil Magny. I lost to Tyron Woodley and I felt like maybe I’d like to have a rematch with those guys. But, the feeling that I got after fighting Till, I’ve never wanted a rematch any more than I want that. I would love to run that back,” Gastelum said at media day. “All respect to Darren Till, he had a great, phenomenal gameplan that night and beat me fair and square. But, anybody that knows me, anybody that knows my style and that has seen me in my fights in the past knows that wasn’t me fighting at 100 percent. So, I’d love to be able to run it back.”

Do you think Kelvin Gastelum will bounce back this weekend?