Gastelum (17-8 MMA, 11-8 UFC) was battered by Whittaker (23-5 MMA, 14-3 UFC) over the course of five rounds last April in the main event of UFC on ESPN 22, a fight where he never had a chance to get things going.
While Gastelum had perhaps his least efficient performance against Whittaker, he had one of his best against Israel Adesanya (21-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC), taking the champion to the brink in their interim title-fight thriller back in April 2019 at UFC 236. Based on what he’s seen from both men, Gastelum likes Whittaker’s chances against Adesanya in Saturday’s UFC 271 headliner.
“After my last fight with Rob Whittaker, I’ve never been that dazed, kind of scratching my head like, ‘Man, this guy was really better than me today,’” Gastelum said on the UFC 271 weigh-in show. “And I really didn’t see an opening, and he was just much better. I just had never felt that in a fight before and not even against Adesanya did he make me feel that way. I think Robert Whittaker was just operating on a different level, and I think if he can continue operating at that level, then I think he may be able to take it.”
Whittaker’s lone loss at 185 pounds came against Adesanya, who put on a striking masterclass en route to knocking him out in their title unification bout at UFC 243.
But Gastelum thinks that as long as Whittaker doesn’t make the same mistakes as the first fight, he has the skillset to regain his belt.
“He needs to pick his shots well,” Gastelum said. “Not leap and jump in there like he did last time. Adesanya is a master at managing distance and controlling distance, and so he needs to be careful with that, about jumping in and leaping in like he did last time, but pick his shots. I think he’s gonna be a little bit faster, I think he has the right tools to beat Adesanya and maybe mix in a little bit more wrestling, as well.”
He continued, “If he mixes it up and mixes in his wrestling, I think he can be successful. I think he can open up a lot of doors if he uses his wrestling.”
The Adesanya/Gastelum fight was a confounding fight for me. I caused me to overrate Kelvin and underrate Israel for several fights afterwards.
“Knock on wood, you won’t catch me on TMZ doing something crazy,” Adesanya said. “Because I have the right people around me. The right people who ground me. I keep my circle very tight and I make sure I’m loved.
“I’m surrounded by people who actually give a f*ck about me, who love me, who want the best for me and vice versa and I do the same for them. I’ve evolved but I keep the same energy. I said that from the jump. I keep the same energy.”
Adesanya, who only made his UFC debut four years ago, has believed in himself from the very beginning. For the most part, “Last Stylebender” has outshined every opponent he has faced and has looked as dominant as any champion in UFC middleweight history. The 32-year-old star may be a few years away from catching the likes of Anderson Silva, but Adesanya is doing pretty good for himself and is taking each step with an open mind for learning and correcting his mistakes.
bet the house on kelvin