Kelvin Gastelum is well aware of Georges St-Pierre’s return.
Late last week, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White announced that “Rush” has agreed to a new deal with the promotion. An opponent, date, and venue have not been determined.
St-Pierre was last seen in action against Johny Hendricks back in Nov. 2013. St-Pierre made his ninth successful UFC welterweight title defense in a controversial split decision win. He then went on a hiatus, vacating his championship in the process.
Gastelum helped St-Pierre prepare for the bout against “Bigg Rigg.” He said “Rush” told him during preparation for the bout that he would walk away from the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) temporarily. Gastelum told Flo Combat that he wouldn’t be opposed to facing the former 170-pound ruler:
“He came back finally. I heard he finally has a contract so I hear that’s good news. He’s 34 or 35 years old now, and I remember sitting down and having lunch with him because I helped him for his last training camp against [Johny] Hendricks. I remember sitting down and he told me he was going to retire after that last fight, but then eventually he would come back. But he didn’t know he’d come back to fight me maybe. It would be an honor to share the cage with a legend like GSP.”
Gastelum will be going head-to-head with former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort. The two will compete at a UFC event in Fortaleza, Brazil on March 11 inside the Centro de Formacao Olimpica do Nordeste.
After falling short to Neil Magny back in Nov. 2015, Gastelum won two straight bouts. He defeated Johny Hendricks by unanimous decision at UFC 200 in a welterweight contest. He was forced to move up to middleweight and had a devastating TKO victory over Tim Kennedy at UFC 206.