The UFC is returning to Mexico City on March 29th and today we learned of a big time middleweight matchup that’s going to be on that card. Alex Behunin of MMA Mania first reported this afternoon that former interim title challenger and Ultimate Fighter winner Kelvin Gastelum (19-9) will move back up to middleweight to take on Joe Pyfer (13-3).
Starting with Pyfer, he’ll be looking for the biggest win of his career when he makes the walk in March. Pyfer earned a contract on The Contender Series and blitzed through his first three opponents inside the octagon. The UFC gave him a main event against Jack Hermansson and the lack of main event experience showed in that fight where he dropped a decision.
Pyfer returned back in June where he took on Marc-Andre Barriault. In that fight, Pyfer looked like his normal self and he knocked out his opponent in the first round. Now, he’ll try to defeat a former interim title challenger.
UFC Mexico City
Kelvin Gastelum is officially back up at 185 after another failed stint at welterweight. Gastelum had his best moments at middleweight, but if he could be disciplined with his weight, his ideal weight class is welterweight. Gastelum said he was dedicated to taking his career seriously in dropping down to 170 last December.
Gastelum made the weight with ease but he ultimately lost to top contender Sean Brady. He returned back in June against Daniel Rodriguez and the fight was supposed to be at 170. However, his camp informed the UFC that he wasn’t going to come close to making welterweight so they made the fight a middleweight matchup.
Gastelum won by decision, but the promotion wasn’t happy. It was made clear after the last attempt that he wouldn’t get another shot at welterweight and now we see that’s the case as he’ll be taking on Pyfer at 185.