Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum will fight it out against each other in the Octagon when the pair meet at UFC Fight Night on Saturday, April 17, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Of course, the fight has already had a change of schedule, with Whittaker having originally been expected to compete against Paulo Costa. However, that bout had to be called off due to an illness picked up by the Brazilian, therefore setting up a bout with Gastelum.
Interestingly, Whittaker and Gastelum were originally scheduled to compete against each other at UFC 234 in February 2019, but “The Reaper” was forced to pull out due to a hernia injury.
Fighter profiles
Whittaker, who is known as “The Reaper” is currently ranked the #1 Middleweight fighter in the world, and many have already headed to online-betting.jp to place a wager on the Australian as they believe he will be the favourite to come out and win the contest.
Indeed, it would not be a surprise to see that be the case, as the 30-year-old has been impressive throughout his UFC fighting career. Whittaker has managed to achieve a record that reads 23-5-0 and his fight against the American will be the first since his win via unanimous decision against Jared Cannonier in which he picked up at UFC 254 back in October; an event that had Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje headline.
The 29-year-old Gastelum, though, is not a bad fighter and one that should not be looked over too much. Although he has had some trouble in recent fights - including 3 continuous defeats, he is ranked #9 in the Middleweight category and recently ended his slide with a unanimous decision win against Ian Heinisch at UFC 258 on October 24, 2020. That win took his record to a convincing 17-6-0.
Whittaker has the advantage in all categories
When looking at the tale of the tape for this UFC Fight Night contest, things do not look great for Gastelum as he is disadvantaged at each of the measurements compared to his Australian opponent.
As well as being the #1 ranked middleweight fighter, Whittaker has a number of different factors on his side. “The Reaper” stands at 6’ 0” tall and has a reach of 73”. The American is slightly shorter as he stands at 5’ 9” and has a reach that is slightly shorter as well, with 71”. The duo share the same weight of 185 lbs.
With the figures almost identical in each and every aspect, it could be argued that UFC fans are in for an entertaining contest and one that looks rather even. Both fighters do have different fighting stances, though, with Whittaker adopting an orthodox stance, whilst Gastelum has a southpaw stance.
Other fights on the card
Although Robert Whittaker vs Kelvin Gastelum is the main event of this UFC Fight Night event, there are a host of other top fights scheduled to take place, therefore making this a UFC contest worthy of watching when it takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fights include Gerald Meerschaert vs Bartosz Fabinski, Zarah Fairn vs Josiane Nunes and Drakkar Klose vs Jeremy Stephens.
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