Fighter facing near-impossible 31lbs weight cut in 24 hours for UFC 327
A UFC star is facing an almighty task of dropping a staggering 31lbs in order to make weight for his bout on the UFC 327 card on Saturday, reports claim.
UFC 327 takes placer at the Kaseya Center in Miami, with Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg locking horns for the vacant light heavyweight title in the main event.
On the early prelims, Kelvin Gastelum is set to return to action for his first fight in 2026, squaring off against Vicente Luque in a middleweight bout after replacing Kyle Daukaus
However, the encounter has been thrown into disarray - with reports that Gastelum is having difficulties cutting weight yet again.
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According to Upfront MMA, the 34-year-old is currently walking around at 217lbs. Fighters must come in at or under 186lbs for non-title fights in the middleweight division and the outlet said insiders are calling it a "make-or-break” cut for Gastelum, who is" treating it like his career depends on it".
The former Ultimate Fighter winner has started his cut and while those in UFC are used to shed an extreme amount of weight, Gastelum requires an almost unthinkable drop to come in at 186lbs on the scales.
Kelvin Gastelum's history of weight issues
20-10 in MMA, Gastelum was involved in one of the UFC's greatest ever fights when he went to war with Israel Adesanya.
But his UFC career has been plagued by weight issues. In his last fight with Dustin Stoltzfus in September, he weighed in five pounds above the limit and so the encounter happened at catchweight, with Gastelum fined 35 per cent of his purse despite winning.
A similar situation happened for his fight with Tyron Woodley in 2015, when he came in 10 pounds over the limit and forfeited 30 per cent of his purse for a catchweight bout.
However, the worst example was in November 2016 at UFC 205. Gastelum's scheduled tear-up with the legendary Donald Cerrone was cancelled completely as he could not make the 171lbs limit and did not turn up to the weight-ins.
Understandably, the New York State Athletic Commission refused to sanction, Gastelum issued with a six-month suspension and Dana White demanding he never fight at welterweight again.
He did in a loss to Sean Brady years later before his scheduled welterweight fight with Daniel Rodriguez became a middleweight match-up because of weight issues.
Gastelum and his team have not officially commented on the rumours about his latest weight situation.
Josh Lawless