In the co-main event of this weekend’s (Sat. April 13, 2019) UFC 236 pay-per-view (PPV), an interim UFC middleweight championship will be contested for. Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum will go one-on-one for the interim strap. The winner will later unify their titles with Robert Whittaker, who has been dealing with health concerns.
Recently, Gastelum has questioned whether or not Adesanya actually deserves a shot at the title, as “Stylebender” comes off a decision victory over the 43-year-old Anderson Silva. However, Adesanya thinks Gastelum needs to take a hard look in the mirror if that’s truly his stance on the matter (via MMA Fighting):
“So someone actually on Instagram kinda pointed out to me that everyone keeps saying, ‘Oh, I fought an old Anderson.’ Anderson’s beaten a lot of the guys [Gastelum]’s beaten when they were younger,” Adesanya said.
“[Gastelum] fought Belfort when he was old, ‘Jacare’ when he was old, Bisping when he was old, (Nate) Marquardt when he was old, and the list goes on. So I don’t know why people aren’t considering that. Like, these guys that he’s dropping, they’re just literally [covering up] and just getting hit.
“Anderson’s a different kind of beast, so that’s why getting ready for him I felt was harder physically and also a harder fight to deal with than Kelvin.”
Adesanya is undefeated in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career thus far. He has racked up victories over the likes of Brad Tavares, Derek Brunson, and Silva. He’ll face his toughest opponent yet in Gastelum, who is also on a back-to-back win streak. Gastelum’s last two victories have come against both Ronaldo Souza and Michael Bisping.
Now, the former Ultimate Fighter winner is approaching the first UFC title opportunity of his career.
Do you think Adesanya deserves a UFC title opportunity?
