Dolce: Gastelum should be a lightweight
Mike Dolce: “I think [Kelvin Gastelum] strays from his diet and starts his weight cut too close to the fight. He doesn’t give himself enough time.”
Despite him having issues several times making the welterweight limit, nutritionist Mike Dolce believes TUF winner Kelvin Gastelum could make lightweight:
“He needs to show more discipline in the offseason,” Dolce said. “Once he does that I think he’ll be an amazing welterweight. But honestly, I truly believe Kelvin should really be a lightweight.”
Dolce bases that assessment on Gastelum’s frame, lean mass ratio and body-fat percentage. Gastelum did compete on The Ultimate Fighter 17 as a middleweight, but Dolce thinks his natural weight would actually be 155. He compares him more to his client Nik Lentz, a featherweight, than Johny Hendricks, Dolce’s client who is the UFC welterweight champion.
“Kelvin gets really far out of shape and it’s hard for him to pull it back together,” Dolce said. “I think he strays from his diet and starts his weight cut too close to the fight. He doesn’t give himself enough time. … I think if he gains some professional maturity, he’ll grown into that [welterweight] division.”
Dolce and Kastelum had worked together in the past, but not recently with the fighter citing the expense of bringing Dolce into his camp. Currently Kelvin is ranked ninth in the welterweight division and has won all three fights since winning the Ultimate Fighter.