Kelvin Gastelum outpoints Daniel Rodriguez in UFC Saudi Arabia battle
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us today, June 22, 2024, for UFC Saudi Arabia / UFC on ABC 6, going down live from the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Headlining the event is a 185 lb clash between no. 3 ranked former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (25-7) and Ikram Aliskerov (15-1). Whittaker was originally slated to face no. 11 ranked Khamzat Chimaev in this evening’s main event, though Chimaev was forced from the bout with an illness and replaced by one of his former foes in Aliskerov.
Co-headlining the event is a heavyweight bout between no. 3 ranked former FNG heavyweight champion Sergei Pavlovich (18-2) and no. 5 ranked former Bellator and M-1 Challenge heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov (37-10).
Our feature fight of the evening came in the middleweight division between former interim title challenger Kelvin Gastelum (18-9) and Daniel Rodriguez (17-5).
Following victory over Chris Curtis (UD) in April of 2023 Gastelum moved back down to 170 lbs in December, losing that bout to no. 8 ranked Sean Brady (kimura). This fight was also expected to take place in the welterweight division, though Gastelum asked for it to be at 185 lbs earlier in the week and had his request granted by Rodriguez and the UFC.
Rodriguez on the other hand, following a 7-1 run across eight fights to begin his promotional tenure, had since lost his last two-straight to Neil Magny (D’Arce choke) and Ian Garry (TKO).
Continue reading to see how our feature fight of the evening went down:
Official Result: Kelvin Gastelum def. Daniel Rodriguez via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Both men landed a lot of good punch combinations throughout the opening five minutes, each of them eating the others attack while dishing out some of their own. Gastelum was the only one to throw any kicks, landing a couple leg kicks here and there, but for the most part they threw down with sharp boxing.
Round two was going similar to the first, each man landing nasty combinations onto the other up until Gastelum secured a double leg takedown midway through the round.
About 30 seconds later however and Rodriguez got back to his feet. They got right back to it, Rodriguez doing a better job of landing as the round went on with Gastelum securing a second takedown in the final seconds of the middle stretch.
Gastelum secured another takedown midway through the third and final round, Rodriguez of which accepted bottom position for a time as he was fatiguing. He was able to return to his feet in the final 40 seconds of the bout, but not for long as Gastelum again took him down and kept him on his back for the final 25 seconds of the fight.
It’s unfortunate this fight didn’t take place in the welterweight division; Rodriguez told Gastelum during the fight he felt heavy on top of him, and if he had to cut that extra 15 lbs he may not have been able to utilize his wrestling that effectively.
Nonetheless, Kelvin Gastelum got back to his winning ways today at UFC Saudi Arabia. This was a good one too, if you missed it we strongly suggest you go back and give it a watch.
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