Kelvin Gastelum believes his upcoming fight with Daniel Rodriguez could have both Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts on the line.
Gastelum is scheduled to face Rodriguez on Saturday at UFC on ABC 6 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Gastelum’s UFC career has been on a bit of a downward trend, going 2-5 since losing the interim middleweight title to Israel Adesanya in 2019. Gastelum moved down to welterweight for the first time in nine years and most recently lost by submission to Shawn Brady in December 2023.
Gastelum is “backed into a corner” and feels a win over Rodriguez is essential to staying with UFC. He also believes this is a must-win situation for his opponent to extend his contract with UFC. “D-Rod” won four appearances in the Octagon before suffering consecutive stoppage losses to Neil Magny and Ian Garry. After fighting with UFC for over a decade, the idea of not getting a contract extension is unsettling for Gastelum, but he remains optimistic heading into UFC Saudi Arabia.
“I’ve been working really hard for this camp. My career hasn’t been going the way I wanted it to lately, so I feel like I’m in a bit of a corner,” Gastelum told MMAjunkie.com, “but I’m going in with confidence, like I always do… This time it feels a little different. I feel like I need to win, it’s a must-win situation, and I think we both do. Whoever loses is going to pack up their bags and go home and not be signed with UFC anymore… [scare me] But, I’m always a positive person, so we’re going to stay positive.”
Gasteum believes that not only does he face tougher competition than Rodriguez, he’s also better than “D-Rod” in every way.
“I’ve fought much better fighters and I think I’m the better fighter too,” he said. “No matter where I fight, standing or on the ground, I think I’m better everywhere. So yeah, he’s got some things he’s really good at, so as long as I keep my eye on those, I think it’ll all work out.”
