Kelvin Gastelum says Robert Whittaker gave him his toughest test to date.
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.”
