Kelvin
Gastelum believes his upcoming clash against Daniel
Rodriguez has both of their
Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts at stake.
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Gastelum is scheduled to face Rodriguez at
UFC on ABC 6 on Saturday at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia. Gastelum’s UFC career has been on somewhat of a downward
spiral, as he has gone 2-5 since his interim middleweight title
loss to Israel
Adesanya in 2019. Gastelum dropped back to welterweight after
nine years for his most recent outing, where he suffered a
submission loss against Sean Brady
in December 2023.
With his “back against the wall,” Gastelum feels a win against
Rodriguez is imperative for him to stay with the UFC. Gastelum also
believes it’s a must-win situation for his opponent to extend his
UFC contract, as well. “D-Rod” is coming off consecutive stoppage
losses against Neil Magny
and Ian
Garry after winning his previous four Octagon appearances.
While the thought of not getting his contract extended scares
Gastelum after more than a decade in the UFC, he is being
optimistic going into UFC Saudi Arabia.
“We’ve been working pretty hard for this camp. I feel like my
back’s up against the wall a little bit because things haven’t gone
the way I wanted to in my career lately,” Gastelum told MMAjunkie.com. “But as always man I’m coming
into this confident…This one feels a little different. I feel like
I need a win, I’m in a must-win situation. And I think both of us
are. I think loser packs and goes home and doesn’t sign with the
UFC again… It does [scare me] but you know what, I’m a man that
always thinks positive, so we’re gonna stay positive.”
Gasteum believes that not only has he faced tougher competition
than Rodriguez, but he is also better than “D-Rod” in all
aspects.
“I feel I’ve fought way better fighters, I feel I’m the better
fighter as well,” he said. “Anywhere the fight goes, standing, on
the ground, I think I’m better anywhere. Yeah, there’s a couple of
things he does really good and just gotta stay vigilant on those
things, and I think everything will be alright.”