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In the official weigh-ins prior to UFC 244, Kelvin Gastelum was the last fighter to hit the scale and his team took quite a bit of effort to make sure that he made the mark.
But it turned out that he was well within the weight limit and was cleared to fight in his UFC 244 Middleweight bout against Darren Till. However, further scrutiny of the weigh-in video put a question mark to the accuracy of his announced weight, which was followed by a statement from NYSAC and a tweet from Gastelum himself denying any wrongdoing on their part.
The Weigh-ins
Behind the curtains, Gastelum was rubbed down repeatedly to get rid of as much sweat from his body as possible. He even got on the scale stripped naked, shielded by NYSAC officials with a towel. Surprisingly, his weight was announced to be 184 pounds, which was two full pounds under the Middleweight limit of 186 pounds.
But soon afterward, a tweet by journalist Chisanga Malata put doubt in everyone’s mind about the legitimacy of the weigh-in results.
It seemed like Gastelum’s elbow was touching his coach Rafael Cordeiro who was standing behind the towel and it brought up the question whether he leaned onto his coach to lose a few pounds on the scale.
Gastelum calls it ‘fake news’
By Friday afternoon, NYSAC issued a statement regarding the matter, confirming that the Commission has reviewed the footage and has come to the conclusion that Gastelum will be allowed to continue with the fight due to the lack of concrete evidence that the touch in any way impacts the weigh-in to a considerable extent.
In an early-morning tweet on Saturday, Gastelum called the entire controversy ‘fake news’ and urged his fans not to believe in everything they come across, thus insisting there is no foul play involved.
However, in the statement, the Commission said that they will continue to review the matter and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken if anything in the video comes up as a violation of the rules and of Commission policy.
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