Right now, Kelvin Gastelum is currently in the midst of a two-fight losing streak. The California native is coming off a surprising loss to Darren Till at UFC 244; however, what kicked off his recent losing streak is the unanimous decision loss to current UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya.
Speaking to MMA Junkie, the middleweight reveals that the fight against the reigning 185-pound champion is the one that stings the most as he understands how close he came to beating Adesanya inside the octagon:
“I’m very proud of the effort that I put in that fight and what we did in that fight despite the circumstances, and I’m very proud of that fight because I got to do a lot of things that I haven’t been able to do in a lot of other fights,” Gastelum said. “I’m very proud of it. At the same time though, this is not why I got into the sport, to say and look back, ‘I almost did it. I was this close.’ No, man. I’m not going to be one of those people.
“I’m not really worried about it right now, but when people ask me, and they’re like, ‘You were this close,’ it sucks. It burns in my soul. It burns in my heart to know I was that close, and I just won’t let it happen again.”
In terms of his fight against Till, Gastelum believes that accepting the bout so quickly was a mistake, as he realized after his loss to the middleweight newcomer that he should’ve taken more time to heal:
“I feel like after the Israel fight, I was eager to get back and prove something because I lost, but it didn’t work out in my favor,” Gastelum said. “I lost the Darren Till fight, and I feel like after the Darren Till fight, I realized, ‘Man, maybe I should have taken some more time to kind of heal from that beating I took last April.’ After that fight, I should have taken more time off.
“I was really eager. I had done more damage to my body than I probably realized. I wasn’t there mentally. I wasn’t there physically or emotionally in the Darren Till fight. I don’t even feel like I lost to him, just because of the way that I felt. I didn’t feel like really being there, to be honest.”
At the moment, Gastelum doesn’t know who he’ll be fighting inside the octagon next; however, he hopes to square off against a former middleweight champion or two top contenders in the division:
“I don’t know. There’s a couple options. I just don’t know who the matchmakers would want me to match up with for the next fight, but I mean, I’m hoping for anybody: Robert Whittaker, Jared Cannonier, Jack Hermansson.”
Check out the full interview where Gastelum speaks about whether he belongs in the list of top middleweights, the coronavirus having an affect on MMA, and so much more.