UFC: Kelvin Gastelum has one eye on return, and other on settling a score with Israel Adesanya
- The 27-year-old ‘selfishly’ wants Israel Adesanya to beat Robert Whittaker ‘so I can take the title from him’
- ‘You want to get back in there and make things right,’ Gastelum says after stewing over every detail of his heartbreaking loss
Eleven weeks must seem more like a lifetime for a fighter stuck on the sidelines and left mostly alone with their thoughts.
Kelvin Gastelum is just emerging from that sort of stretch and admits it’s been tough, but that time away has simply sharpened his focus. Now he wants another crack at Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya.
“I I just want that rematch,” Gastelum tells the Post in Hong Kong at Sheung Wan’s Espada BJJ Studio. “You lose and go over every single detail and you want to get back in there and make things right.”
Gastelum-Adesanya was a bout for the ages, back at UFC 236 on April 13, with the interim middleweight title up for grabs and showcasing every single thing that can be offered from two fighters with wildly different backgrounds in the game.
The thinking was that nothing could separate the pair going into the fifth and final round in Atlanta, but Adesanya slipped in a guillotine, then a triangle, then he started to pick his opponent apart with that long, lanky reach.