Fighter takes on tough challenge of cutting 31lbs in just 24 hours for UFC 327
A UFC star is facing a huge challenge, needing to lose 31 pounds to make weight for his fight at UFC 327 this Saturday, reports say.
The event takes place at the Kaseya Center in Miami, with Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg battling for the vacant light heavyweight title as the main event.
Earlier on the card, Kelvin Gastelum is set to return for his first fight of 2026 against Vicente Luque in a middleweight bout, after stepping in for Kyle Daukaus.
But things aren’t going smoothly—reports say Gastelum is struggling to cut weight again.
According to Upfront MMA, the 34-year-old currently weighs around 217 pounds. For middleweight fights, athletes need to come in at 186 pounds or less. Insiders are calling this a “make-or-break” weight cut for Gastelum, who is “treating it like his career depends on it.”
Gastelum, a former Ultimate Fighter winner, has already started his weight cut. While UFC fighters often lose a lot of weight before fights, Gastelum faces an especially tough job to get down to 186 pounds.
With a record of 20-10, Gastelum was part of one of the UFC’s most exciting fights against Israel Adesanya. But weight problems have followed him throughout his career. In his last fight against Dustin Stoltzfus in September, he missed weight by five pounds. The fight still happened at a catchweight, but he was fined 35% of his pay, even though he won.
A similar thing happened back in 2015 when he weighed in 10 pounds over the limit against Tyron Woodley and had to give up 30% of his paycheck.
The most serious case was in November 2016 at UFC 205. His fight with Donald Cerrone was canceled because Gastelum couldn’t make the 171-pound limit and didn’t show up for the weigh-ins. He was then suspended for six months and Dana White said he should never fight at welterweight again.
Despite that, he did fight at welterweight later, losing to Sean Brady, and another scheduled welterweight fight was changed to middleweight because of weight issues.
Gastelum and his team haven’t said anything official about the latest reports of his weight struggles.