If all goes well, the UFC hopes to have Tim Kennedy fight Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 206 on December 10th in Toronto, Canada.
Kennedy was originally scheduled to fight Rashad Evans on the main card after they were shunted from the UFC 205 line-up earlier this month.
However, the same MRI issue that led to Evans not being granted a license to fight in New York also came back to haunt him in Ontario, leaving Kennedy without a dance partner for the event.
Gastelum also missed out on fighting at UFC 205 due to a botched weight cut, and since that’s not the first time this has happened the UFC are now forcing him to move up to the middleweight division permanently.
That makes him an obvious choice to fight Kennedy, but there is a catch as Gastelum was suspended for six months by the New York State Athletic Commission for failing to show up to the UFC 205 weigh-ins.
Gastelum is currently appealing that ruling however, given that no other commission takes such a tough stance on matters like that, and the UFC appear to be confident that the matter can be resolved over the next couple of weeks to enable him to fight at UFC 206.
Kennedy Vs Gastelum would be a welcome addition to the line-up for the pay-per-view event, which has also recently taken a big hit with the headlining title fight between 205lb champ Daniel Cormier and Anthony Johnson being scrapped due to injury.
The original co-main event between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis has now been upgraded to headline status, with the added incentive that it’s now for the interim 145lb title after Conor McGregor vacated the ‘real’ title and Jose Aldo was declared the new champion.
