UFC on ESPN 22 poster: Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum gets torn in four pieces
Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum will square off at UFC on ESPN 22 in a pivotal middleweight main event matchup.
UFC on ESPN 22 takes place Saturday, April 17 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The event streams on ESPN/ESPN+.
Tuesday, the UFC released the official poster for the event, which features the two headlining participants against a red background. Tears divide the poster into four uneven sections and give the fighters a distorted side-by-side look.
Should he win against Gastelum (16-6 MMA, 11-6 UFC), it’s quite possible Whittaker (22-5 MMA, 13-3 UFC) could be next in line for UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, the man who took the title from him in 2019. As for Gastelum, he’ll look to turn a standalone win into a winning streak.
Whittaker was originally scheduled to square off with Paulo Costa. However, Costa withdrew from the matchup due to lingering COVID-19 effects. Fresh off a win over Ian Heinisch in February, Gastelum stepped in.
Whittaker and Gastelum were paired up once before for a fight that never happened. In February 2019, Whittaker withdrew from UFC 234 hours before the event due to a hernia.
The current UFC on ESPN 22 lineup includes:
- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Robert Whittaker
- Bartosz Fabinski vs. Gerald Meerschaert
- Juan Espino vs. Alexander Romanov
- Drakkar Klose vs. Jeremy Stephens
- Parker Porter vs. Chase Sherman
- Tracy Cortez vs. Justine Kish
- Austin Hubbard vs. Natan Levy
- Alex Munoz vs. Luis Pena
- Bill Algeo vs. Ricardo Ramos
- Hannah Goldy vs. Jessica Penne
- Anthony Birchak vs. Tony Gravely
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UFC on ESPN 22 poster: Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum gets torn in four pieces
