At one time, Kelvin Gastelum didn’t want to move to middleweight from welterweight, determined to challenge for gold at 170 pounds. Yet the man whose title he is fighting for in Melbourne this weekend, Robert Whittaker, welcomed the move back in 2014.
“Moving to middleweight was a great decision for me primarily because the weight cut was taking a lot out of me,” said Whittaker. “It wasn’t until my second (UFC) loss that I realized how much it was taking out of me trying to make the welterweight division. So when I moved to middleweight, a lot of lifestyle changes were taking place at the same time.