Trading Shots: Weighty issues for Kelvin Gastelum

Kelvin Gastelum

In this week’s Trading Shots, UFC President Dana White says Kelvin Gastelum doesn’t get to move back down to welterweight. Should that be his call to make? Retired UFC/WEC fighter Danny Downes and MMAjunkie columnist Ben Fowlkes discuss.

Fowlkes: Danny, Kelvin Gastelum’s exile to the middleweight division got off to a fine start on Saturday. At UFC 188 he ran through Nate Marquardt in a fight that was pretty depressing at times, yet brought to a merciful end by coach and cornerman Trevor Wittman. Afterward, Gastelum said once again that he’d like to return to welterweight, but it didn’t sound like UFC President Dana White was as receptive to that request as Gastelum might have hoped.

“He’s done nothing to prove he can make 170 pounds,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “And when he doesn’t make 170 pounds, it’s dangerous and it screws a lot of things up around here.”

White later added an even firmer no, saying “It’s not healthy, it’s not good for him, and it’s definitely not good for us.”

I’m torn here, Danny. On one hand, seems like we need a heavy hand at times to stop fighters from dangerous weight cuts in the name of gaining some perceived advantage. On the other hand, should that be the promoter’s decision to make? A guy says he wants to fight at welterweight, can you really hold him to his contract if you refuse to give him a fight in that division?

Downes: As much as I’d like to take the fighter’s side here, I agree with White. This is a case of fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I look like an idiot. Gastelum’s first foray into the welterweight division didn’t go so well. That makes the fighter look bad, but it’s also a bad look for the UFC.

Furthermore, Gastelum had to be hospitalized the last time he tried to make 170 pounds. First and foremost, that’s a safety issue. Secondly, that means the fight itself could be scratched. Look at what happened with Renan Barao. It set him back and put the UFC in a bind. I’m always skeptical when a company says it’s preventing someone from doing something they want because it’s “best for both parties,” but it applies in this case.

Does that mean Gastelum should be banned from welterweight forever? No, but he has to prove he can make it. That may mean a test cut for the UFC, but you can’t book him a fight at 170 pounds without certain guarantees. A similar situation applies to Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino. Regardless of how you feel about her past PED use or if the UFC is “protecting” Ronda Rousey, the fact of the matter remains that “Cyborg” can’t show yet that she can make bantamweight.

Why would you invest all your time and money in an event that could be ruined by missing weight? I know you put a lot of faith in your Nigerian prince friend to come through, but some of us aren’t as trusting as you, Ben.

Fowlkes: I don’t disagree it’s a health and safety concern. I also don’t disagree there’s reason to be skeptical when a fight promoter says he’s making a decision based on the health of the person he is paying relatively low wages to in exchange for assuming great physical risks. I think the UFC is probably more concerned with the very real possibility of a late scratch on a fight card than any lasting damage to Gastelum’s body, but I’m willing to accept the occasional happy ending arrived at via some wrong turns.

But say Gastelum sticks with middleweight a while longer. Say he wins a few against guys lower down the totem pole, then gets ragdolled and roughed up by the bigger dudes of the division. Say he goes to UFC executives and says, “Look, my career is being harmed by you guys forcing me to fight above my preferred division, and I won’t accept any more fights at middleweight.”

What then? If it’s really a health issue, shouldn’t he be forced to sink or swim at 185 pounds, even if it limits him? The idea of a test cut is interesting, but, according to White, the issue isn’t just that he has trouble making it – it’s that he diminishes himself in the process. Is he going to have to do the test cut to the UFC’s satisfaction, then come back the next day and spar (for free, one assumes) while the guys in suits watch?

Because while I could totally picture that happening, I could also picture that being another one of those how-are-these-people-still-independent-contractors? moments. How much control over a fighter’s career is too much for any promoter to be entrusted with?

Downes: You do present an interesting hypothetical. Let’s say Gastelum runs into some of the larger middleweights in the division and gets thrown around. Then will be he allowed to drop down?

The UFC doesn’t have any problem telling guys they should drop a division when they falter against larger opponents, and there’s no reason to think they won’t do the same to Gastelum. In a weird way, his biggest obstacle to welterweight (besides failing the last time) has been his own success. If he weren’t doing well at 185 pounds, he’d have more leverage to ask for a change in weight class.

I agree with your overall sentiment, but I think it’s misplaced. As the years go by, the idea that UFC fighters are independent contractors becomes almost farcical. The level of control and binding agreements forced on fighters makes the whole system seem unfair. Having said that, preventing Gastelum from dropping a weight class isn’t the injustice you’re making it sound.

There’s no doubt that fighters need more power. So much of their careers are out of their hands that we feel they should at least be able to determine what weight they want to fight at. Most of the time that is true, but Gastelum already had that opportunity. He failed to make weight, and that has consequences. We may want promoters to relinquish some control, but that doesn’t mean they should surrender all control. At the end of the day, they have the power of the purse.

Speaking of the purse, I think that’s the only way we can get fighters to do anything. The most dissent we’ve heard from UFC fighters came from the Reebok deal. This situation only affects Kelvin Gastelum, so fighters as a whole don’t really care. Can you think of any situation that would shock fighters out of their apathy?

Fowlkes: The uproar over the Reebok deal, relatively mild though it was, is the closest thing to such a shock that I’ve seen. But if that didn’t prove to be a tipping point (at least not yet, but no one’s started cashing those checks, either), you’re right that the plight of poor, overweight Gastelum probably won’t do it.

But this is what I mean when I say I’m torn on this issue. The UFC has so much power over fighters, which is worrisome, but there are some situations where it wields that power to positive ends.

Remember when White forcibly retired Chuck Liddell? Remember when he gave do-nothing jobs to guys like Matt Hughes just to get them to quit hurting themselves for money? How about what the UFC is doing now to push for more stringent anti-doping measures, which has the potential to change the entire fighter culture in MMA?

These are also heavy-handed moves, even if the sport and the fighters are better off as a result of them. Same with Gastelum, who doesn’t seem like he’s getting any benefits from dropping weight that are commensurate with the risks and the detriments of getting there.

Point is, there are plenty of instances where the UFC uses that heavy hand to get stuff done. Sometimes it’s stuff that might never get done, or would at least take a lot longer to get done in a sport with a more equitable distribution of power between athletes and owners.

I don’t know how to feel about that, since that essentially puts everyone in the position of petitioning the mighty wizard who rules this land, hoping he decides to use his powers only for good and never evil. And this is MMA, Danny, where there is hardly anything that’s all the way good, all the time.

Downes: I thought enlightened absolutism went out of style with Louis XVI, but point taken. By having concentrated control, things get done quicker. And a lot of times, there are positive outcomes. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s the preferred way of doing things.

I remember feeling the same way as you when I read this story on MMAjunkie in January. Who cares if Anderson Silva doesn’t get to choose his entrance music? That’s such a small thing. Could you imagine if a fighter threw a fit about his music? We’d make fun of him/her for being immature.

We might try to argue that it was about something greater. Rebelling against the powers that be seems admirable at times. The problem is that rebellion for rebellion’s sake isn’t constructive. It’s like disobeying a “Do Not Walk on Grass” sign. You’re not really accomplishing anything.

There will be many battles in the movement to empower fighters. It will involve the fighters themselves, management, promoters, and the media. Like any war, you have to pick and choose your battles. It may be unfortunate that Gastelum is being prevented from doing what he wants, but you’re not going to start a movement with a guy who wants to be able to lose another 15 pounds. Let’s just hope he doesn’t lose something greater.

For more on UFC 188, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Danny Downes, a retired UFC and WEC fighter, is an MMAjunkie contributor who also writes for UFC.com and UFC 360. Follow them on twitter at @benfowlkesMMA and @dannyboydownes.