Top Contender Kelvin Gastelum Says He’s “The World Champion.”
Earlier today UFC 234 main headliner bout got rocked just hours before the event when UFC president Dana White broke the news via ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has been forced to withdraw from a title fight against Kelvin Gastelum due to hernia issue.
After acknowledging the news, Donald Cerrone and Chael Sonnen offer their services, but UFC moved on with other plans and decided to call off Gastelum from tonight’s UFC 234 lineup.
In the wake of this terrible news, UFC promoted the middleweight bout between former division kingpin Anderson Silva and rising contender Israel Adesanya to the main event.
Although the fight is called off, Gastelum showed up at Rod Laver Arena with the new belt on his shoulder.
.@KelvinGastelum says he's the true UFC middleweight champion. Full interview video coming soon to https://t.co/uu3K3IQYju 👀 #UFC234 pic.twitter.com/G0UUoW7WiR
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) February 10, 2019
Not only that Gastelum told reporters at backstage that he’s “true UFC middleweight champion.” (h/t BJPenn)
“No one handed me nothing I earned this,” stated Gastelum when asked by reporters who gave him the belt backstage at UFC 234. “I earned this right here. I showed up man. I showed up to the fight and made the weight. I showed up to fight. He forfeits. I win. I am the world champion.”
.@KelvinGastelum arrived into Rod Laver with a belt on his shoulder, we tried to find more info about what's going on! #UFC234 pic.twitter.com/wn4DUCDxLG
— Submission Radio (@SubmissionRadio) February 10, 2019
Well, we don’t know whether he’s just flaunting the new belt or UFC officials handed him the strap, regardless of that, he’s proclaiming himself a champ.
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