The days of trying to compete in Kelvin Gastherm’s welterweight have come to an end. Now he intends to chase gold at the middleweight division, and is looking at a re-booking for current title holder Dricus du Plessis.
After bouncing back and forth between 170 and 185 pounds, the Gastherm (19-9 MMA, 13-9 UFC) appears to be set to do consistent driving at the middleweight level. Play against Joe Pyfer in the UFC on ESPN 64. He wasn’t excited at first because he wasn’t ranked first.
However, Gastherm recalls talking to UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell about his career prospects, and sees this fight as an opportunity to move in stages.
“I had a meeting with Hunter (Campbell) a few months ago. “Listen, I want to have the best fight. I want to fight for the title, so leave me to fight for the title,” Gastherm told MMA Junkie Radio. “He gave me the toughest, toughest match he could find, but that’s fine. I think I need to start at the bottom, and it’s a fresh start in the middleweight division again.
At the pinnacle of the division is the Dricus du Plessis, which was previously reserved for Gastelum to face as a short-term alternative at UFC 273. Unfortunately, the injury kicked out Gastelum and Du Plessis continued to win five-game titles of five titles.
Gasteulm sees holes in Du Plessis’ game, but also acknowledges why the current champion can overcome his downfall.
“We fight ‘That guy. That guy. He’s a strange battle’,” recalled Gastherm trying to land a short-term alternative. “Of course, Ali (Abderaziz) made some calls. The next day we matched, and that meant that the next day I went into sparring and injured my knee.
“We were training for him. We were already strategizing for him. He obviously has a big hole in his game. It’s his cardio, his pressure that puts him in danger. I mean, he just puts the ball on the wall for 25 minutes and that’s his specialty. It’s his specialty. It’s very new.”
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