[autotag]Kelvin Gastelum[/autotag]’s career could use a win this Saturday. After struggling to maintain a winning streak in recent years, the UFC veteran firmly believes his best career days are around the corner.
Gastelum returns on the main card of UFC on ABC 6, which takes place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Gastelum (18-9 MMA, 12-9 UFC) takes on fellow veteran [autotag]Daniel Rodriguez[/autotag].
Gastelum is confident he’ll be able to return to the win column, as he sees himself better than Rodriguez (17-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in all areas of the fight game.
But in a late twist, the fight will take place at middleweight after Gastelum revealed a struggle with the weight cut to 170 pounds, at which the bout was contracted.
“I’ve obviously fought against many former champions and elite level fighters, right, so I think I just need to go in there and stay focused on the strategy I’ve established with my team,” Gastelum told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “D-Rod does many things well. He’s a good boxer and we need to be careful with certain things. Overall, I truly feel superior to him in every aspect – the standup and the ground game.
“I feel very confident in my abilities and that I’m the better fighter. I’m ready to fight wherever the fight goes.”
Gastelum moved back down to welterweight and changed his team from Kings MMA in California to Fight Ready in Arizona. He made big career changes in preparation for his last outing, which unfortunately didn’t pan out for him.
“It’s very tough to get up again and again and again, but that’s what a fighter does,” Gastelum said when asked bout his loss to Sean Brady last December. “We fight every day. It’s unfortunate I wasn’t able to show how much I’ve evolved and improved because the fight didn’t go as I thought it would. However, this time around, I feel very good and very confident in my preparation. I feel good.”
Gastelum is 2-6 in his past eight bouts, where he competed against some of the best in the world at 185 and 170 pounds. Although he’s been in the UFC for over a decade, at just 32, Gastelum said he thinks there’s plenty left in his career.
“I still think I can do this, and I think my better days are ahead of me,” Gastelum said. “That’s how I truly feel.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 6.