Kelvin Gastelum’s days of trying to compete at welterweight are done. Now, he intends to chase gold at middleweight and is eyeing a rebooking against current title holder Dricus Du Plessis.
After bouncing back and forth between 170 and 185 pounds, Gastelum (19-9 MMA, 13-9 UFC) appears to be set on making a consistent run in the middleweight division. It starts at UFC on ESPN 64 against Joe Pyfer, in a matchup he initially wasn’t too thrilled about because he wasn’t ranked.
However, Gastelum recalled speaking with UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell about his career outlook and views the fight as an opportunity to move up the ladder, step by step.
“I had a meeting with Hunter (Campbell) a few months back, and I told him, ‘Listen, I want to fight the best. I want to still fight for a title, so put me on that route to fight for the title,’” Gastelum told MMA Junkie Radio. “He gave me the hardest, toughest matchup he could find. But that’s fine. I think I need to start from the bottom. It’s a fresh start in the middleweight division again, so I just need to work my way up.”
At the top of the division sits Dricus Du Plessis, someone Gastelum was previously booked to face as a short-notice replacement at UFC 273. Unfortunately, an injury forced Gastelum out, and Du Plessis would go on to capture the division’s title five fights later.
Gasteulm sees holes in Du Plessis’ game, but also acknowledges why the current champ is able to overcome his downfalls.
“We were like, ‘That guy. That guy. He fights weird,’” Gastelum recalled about trying to land a short-notice replacement. “Sure enough, Ali (Abdelaziz) made some calls, next day we were matched up. The thing was, that very next day I went into sparring and I injured my knee, man.
“We were training for him, we already strategized for him. Obviously he’s got huge holes in his game, the thing that makes him dangerous is his cardio, his pressure. I mean, he just goes out there balls to the wall for 25 minutes and he bullies people, and that’s his specialty. Just like Khamzat (Chimaev), just like Merab Dvalishvili, these guys go in there and they bully people with their cardio and that’s a style that’s starting to come I think that’s very new.”
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