With high hopes of taking care of business against Nicholas Musoke, Kelvin Gastelum is highly driven to work his way into the UFC welterweight division’s top 10 and wants to become a contender instead of just a prospect.
With an 8-0 record and 3-0 mark in the UFC, Kelvin Gastelum has a lot of momentum going into his fight with Musoke. Even though he is the highly touted favorite in this fight, he is not taking Musoke lightly. Gastelum feels that Musoke is in the same position as he was when he headed into his last bout with Rick Story. Musoke has everything to gain and little to lose. As a result, Gastelum is training hard for this bout and knows that Musoke is big, strong and coming down from middleweight and has a body-type like Gastelum’s former opponent Uriah Hall.
Gastelum has shown a well-rounded skill set of fighting during hard-fought decisons over Hall and Story and made quick work of Brian Melancon by knocking him down with punches and finishing him with a rear-naked choke in his 2nd UFC bout. In the Ultimate Fighter finale bout, everyone expected him to get slaughtered by the rampaging Uriah Hall, a man who was feared by most fighters on the show. That fear didn’t take hold of Kelvin Gastelum. He used his strength and determination to overpower the very athletic Hall with strikes, while using his effective wrestling to steal the decision. Gastelum and Hall actually ended up training together after the show.
At 22 years of age Gastelum has the momentum and skillset to be a future champion in the division. He gained popularity on the show because of how star-struck he was and the boyish crush he had on the beautiful UFC women’s champion Ronda Rousey. He was actually able to train with her after the show as well. Gastelum has gone a long way since TUF and has definitely got the rest of the division’s attention with his impressive winning streak. The path to the top of the UFC welterweight division is not easy by any means and is considered one of the most stacked divisions that there is, especially since the former kingpin Georges St Pierre vacated his title. Gastelum is just one of the many lions hunting for Johnny Hendricks’ title.
As the co-main event in Saturdays UFC fight night, going on just before the main event title-eliminator between Cub Swanson and Jeremy Stephens, this may be the spotlight and chance Kelvin Gastelum needs to elevate himself as a contender in this ever-so stacked division. One thing is for sure, he always comes to fight and leaves it on the line. There is no doubt that he will bring everything this Saturday night.
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