Ian Heinisch doesn’t think he has a whole lot to worry about when it comes to Kelvin Gastelum’s game.
Heinisch (14-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) faces the skidding Gastelum (15-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC 258 main card, an opportunity to add a well-established name to his resume.
Though Heinisch admits it’s hard to gauge which version of Gastelum he’ll get on the night, he’s expecting the fighter that took UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya to the brink in a “Fight of the Year” contender.
That being said, Heinisch thinks he brings more tools to the table.
“With Kelvin you never know the guy who’s going to show up, but the guy we’re training for to show up is the guy who fought Israel Adesanya,” Heinisch told MMA Junkie. “He’s on a three-fight skid, his back’s against the wall and that’s when people usually fight the hardest. So that’s what we’re expecting, but I feel stylistically it’s gonna be a very fun fight to watch, especially the first three minutes.
“I feel like I just have to mix it up. Between (the) clinch, striking with him, taking him down, just mixing everything up, just being super unpredictable. His timing is impeccable and so I can’t be the guy who’s one-dimensional. I feel he’s a little one-dimensional, and I’m gonna expose that.”
Heinisch was able to snap a losing skid of his own when he finished Gerald Meerschaert in just over a minute at UFC 250 in June. He admits his prior losses to Derek Brunson and Omari Akhmedov taught him valuable lessons and forced him to go back to the drawing board. Now he faces what he says is the biggest fight of his career.
“Usually your next fight is always your biggest fight, but yeah, definitely (it’s my biggest fight),” he said. “I compare this to the Derek Brunson fight. It was a super-seasoned vet guy, someone who’s fought everyone. I learned so much that fight, I took a lesson that fight.
“I was inches away from a knockout in that fight and just had to kinda go back and work on some basics because inches win fights at the highest level, and that’s what we’ve been working on – a ton of basics. I feel like I’ve learned a ton of lessons, I feel more of a seasoned vet now and more comfortable in that cage, and I’m excited to show it.”
After scoring his first UFC finish in his last appearance in June, Heinisch is hoping to notch his first post-fight bonus in what he says should be a thrilling contest against Gastelum.
“Fans are gonna see a high-paced, exciting fight,” Heinisch said. “I know he’s ready to throw down, he’s ready to get his hands on me. I feel the same way. My path to victory is walking forward, eating shots, giving shots and just making this an exciting fight and making the fight go everywhere and just being unpredictable. So, tune in, it’s gonna be fireworks, we’re gonna try and steal the show with ‘Fight of the Night’ or hopefully ‘Performance of the Night’ for me, and fans can definitely look forward to this one.”
UFC 258’s Ian Heinisch says he’s ready to expose ‘one-dimensional’ Kelvin Gastelum