UFC's Kelvin Gastelum moving back to welterweight: 'This is a renaissance in my career'

It looks like the UFC’s welterweight division  soon will get another big name in the mix.

Kelvin Gastelum, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 17 winner who has 20 UFC fights on his resume, announced his drop back to 170 pounds Thursday. Gastelum (18-8 MMA, 12-8 UFC) said in a video posted on his Twitter account that he’s making the drop once again after fighting at middleweight since late 2016.

“I’m making an official announcement, an official drop to 170,” Gastelum said. “Expect my next fight to be at 170. I’m going to get shredded, I hope. I think that I can make another title run at that weight class. I think I can make it.

“Why this time and why now and not before? It’s like I said, this is a second chance. This is a renaissance in my career. This is a rebirth. Before, I was young and dumb. I was stupid and undisciplined. Now that I’m older, hopefully I’ll be a little more mature and smarter, hopefully. Everybody knows this has always been my weight class to go to, but it really just takes me to decide that I want to do it, and now I’ve decided that I want to do it, and I’m going to do it.”

Official announcement pic.twitter.com/ZKVwhhBJY2

— #OnAmission4Gold (@KelvinGastelum) May 11, 2023

The last time Gastelum made 170 pounds was in 2016 at UFC 200 for a unanimous decision win over Johny Hendricks – who missed weight for the fight.

Gastelum won “TUF 17” at middleweight, but after a couple weight misses and issues at welterweight, Gastelum moved to middleweight for a win over Tim Kennedy at UFC 206 and remained there ever since.

The 31-year-old most recently fought in April, when he outpointed Chris Curtis in a unanimous decision that won Fight of the Night at UFC 287 in Miami. The victory put behind him a 1-5 run that started 2019.