Kelvin confident he can outwrestle Chris Weidman
Kelvin Gastelum: “I have no problem whether he comes out and wrestles; I can out-wrestle him. I feel like I can out-box him. I have no problem anywhere.”
Top UFC middleweight Kelvin Gastelum appeared recently on the Fight Society Podcast and discussed his fight Saturday night with former division champion Chris Weidman. Gastelum was originally scheduled to face aging league G.O.A.T. Anderson Silva at UFC 212 in Brazil, but tested positive for the demon weed marijuana, and ended up fighting The All American in his hometown.
We were trying to reschedule the fight with Anderson Silva in Long Island, but I don’t think he accepted the fight, said Gastelum, as transcribed by Mick Hammond for MMA Weekly. He wanted to fight in Rio. (The UFC) came up with Weidman a few days later, and I said why not.”
I was a little disappointed because that would have been an even bigger moment for me. I felt like I was in a spaceship ready to skyrocket to the moon, but that quickly came to a halt, and we had to step back and re-focus and reset everything.
It was a huge opportunity in my life and it was a bummer. But at the same time I feel like these things happen for a reason. They either make you or break you and you’ve got to learn from it.
As long as it’s a main event against a big name that will keep me moving up the ranks then I’ll take it. And that’s exactly what it was.
I feel like what he is going to come out and do[is wrestle], but I’m confident in my wrestling abilities. I don’t have the wrestling pedigree… not the wrestling pedigree, but the accolades that he does; All-American and whatnot; but I’m very confident in my abilities and my skillset as well.
I have no problem whether he comes out and wrestles; I can out-wrestle him. I feel like I can out-box him. I have no problem anywhere the fight goes. I’m very confident in my skillset.
I still have my eyes set on that welterweight gold eventually. I don’t know when, but I feel eventually I want to go back down and fight for the title. The middleweight division is a little stuck right now, but I feel like I can be a guy that comes in and puts it in place. If I win a championship I feel like I can be the guy that just defends the belt. I’m not going to be running away from guys, but I need to get that title shot first.
First Gastelum needs to outwrestle The All American in his hometown. If he can do that, then all things are possible.