Video: Watch Robert Whittaker & Kelvin Gastelum Face Off Before UFC 234
Robert Whittaker & Kelvin Gastelum took part in an interesting faceoff at the UFC 234 pre-fight press conference that recently went down. Whittaker is expected to defend the UFC middleweight title against Gastelum in the headliner of this show. Check out their staredown in Australia over the weekend here:
Gastelum made his return to the middleweight division back in 2016 where he surged up the rankings. Thus, he became a title contender with wins over the likes of Souza, Michael Bisping, Tim Kennedy, and Johny Hendricks. He has not fought inside of the Octagon since May 2018 when he beat Souza.
Whittaker won the interim middleweight title when he beat Yoel Romero back at UFC 213 in July of 2017 by unanimous decision. The UFC booked this fight yet again in the main event for the UFC 225 pay-per-view event at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. This is where Romero suffered a devastating split decision loss to Whittaker. The UFC champ is currently on a nine-fight win streak.
The Event
The UFC 234 pay-per-view event is set to be held on February 10, 2019, at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will air on ESPN+.
The promotion has confirmed that former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will fight rising prospect Israel Adesanya at this show. UFC President Dana White has confirmed that if Silva wins this fight then he’ll get a crack at the middleweight title.
The belief is that this will be a #1 contender’s bout as Adesanya is likely fighting for a title shot should he win this fight. These are the only two bouts confirmed for this show as of this writing. However, the Las Vegas-based promotion is expected to announce more fights for this show in the coming weeks.
