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Kelvin Gastelum wants No. 1 contender fight after he's finished with Vitor Belfort
Kelvin Gastelum is making it clear that after he's finished with Vitor Belfort on Saturday night in Brazil that he wants a No. 1 contender's match at either middleweight or welterweight.
Gastelum, who jumped into the top 10 rankings at 185 pounds after a lopsided win over Tim Kennedy last December, has long been viewed as one of the top prospects in the UFC ever since he won "The Ultimate Fighter" season 17.
Now as he approaches his main event bout against a legend like Belfort this weekend in Brazil, Gastelum is done being viewed as "the next big thing" and he's ready to ascend to the throne as a UFC champion.
"My next fight, I want it to be for a No. 1 contender fight. That's the only fight I'm willing to accept is a No. 1 contender fight. A fight that will guarantee me a title shot," Gastelum told the Fight Society podcast.
"It doesn't matter in which division. Welterweight or middleweight, I'm game for both."
Those might seem like lofty ambitions for Gastelum as he looks to make Belfort his third victory in a row, but he's not above gunning for the toughest matchups possible to get where he wants to go.
Taking a fight with Belfort in his home country of Brazil could be considered a prime case of Gastelum's willingness to go where other competitors may not want to go for a bout of this magnitude.
Belfort will definitely have the crowd on his side Saturday night and he holds a 6-1 record while fighting in his home country under the UFC banner. According to Gastelum, those are exactly the odds he wants to face so he can make an even bigger statement by finishing Belfort in front of a hostile crowd while sending a strong message to the entire middleweight division.
"I expect to finish this fight. That's how confident I am," Gastelum said. "I'm confident in my training. I'm confident in my abilities. I'm just real confident coming into the fight. I've got a pretty good win streak, a two fight win streak, but two fights against really good guys and it's brought my confidence up a little bit.
"I know that I'm well trained and I know that I'm well prepared for this fight, which makes my confidence go up even more because I know I'm ready for whatever Vitor brings. That's where it comes from."
At just 25 years of age, Gastelum has largely grown up throughout his fight career in front of a UFC audience so it's given him a much steeper learning curve than many other athletes might receive coming up in regional promotions before making it to the big show.
Gastelum had no problem being thrown into the fire on his first day in the UFC but now school's out and he's finally ready to show the world what he's capable of doing.
"When I won "The Ultimate Fighter" I was 21, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know what it was like to be a professional fighter. I didn't now what it was like to have to be on a diet. I didn't know what it was like to learn a whole new lifestyle, learn about business, learn about all these things, so I've had to learn as I go," Gastelum explained. "All these experiences, I feel like I've finally put them all together.
"This will be my 11th or 12 fight and I finally feel like the experience is coming together, the good ones and the bad ones, putting it all together and creating something really powerful that the people are going to see on March 11 against Vitor Belfort."
Once Gastelum dispatches Belfort, his eyes are only going to be on the ultimate prize and that's finally winning a UFC title.
While Gastelum admits that he still believes welterweight is the division where he will perform the best, a second straight win over a top 10 opponent at 185 pounds sends a strong message to every fighter in that division that he's gunning for that top spot.
Gastelum doesn't care whether he gets someone like Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Yoel Romero or Luke Rockhold next, so long as a title shot is attached as a prize, he's more than willing.
"The only fight I want to take is the No. 1 contender. It doesn't matter in which division," Gastelum said. "I was supposed to fight "Cowboy" Cerrone and I was hoping my career would end up going another route. I was hoping to get a No. 1 contender after that fight or a title shot. Now I'm going another route. I'm going the middleweight route.
"Let's ask for the No. 1 contender at middleweight after this fight of course."
To hear the rest of Gastelum's interview as well as Michael Chiesa, listen to the latest Fight Society podcast via Soundcloud or download and subscribe via iTunes
