Kelvin Gastelum says Israel Adesanya is not yet worthy of a title shot

Kelvin Gastelum, who was supposed to battle Robert Whittaker in the UFC 234 main event, and now considers himself the middleweight champ by default after Whittaker withdrew from the fight with an injury, was not impressed by Israel Adesanya and Anderson Silva’s UFC 234 fight.

Instead, Gastelum saw this fight as more “theatrics” than anything else.

Kelvin Gastelum gave his take on the fight on the Ariel Helwani MMA Show on Monday (transcript via MMAMania).

“I don’t see what momentum you’re talking about,” Gastelum said. “The fight that I saw was a great fight, but it reminded me of The Matrix. They are dodging punches, dodging kicks, dodging bullets and it’s all very exciting theatrics. And that’s what the fight between Israel and Anderson reminded me of. It was just exciting theatrics. A lot of showboating.”

“He beat a 43-year old Anderson Silva. I’m not sure that’s a claim for a title shot. But if the UFC decides he’s No. 1 contender and gets to skips the five guys in front of him, then so be it. I guess I will fight the No. 1 contender and defend my title,” Gastelum continued, reaffirming that he now considers himself the middleweight champion.

While Kelvin Gastelum was not impressed with this fight, he does appreciate some things about Israel Adesanya.

He just doesn’t think he’s a “title-worthy” fighter yet.

“He’s not over-hyped. I mean it is in a way but he deserves it. He talks well, fights well, but the performance he showed on Saturday was not title-worthy in my opinion. It was all just very exciting theatrics. When I fight, I put guys away. He wasn’t able to put a 43-year old Anderson away. I felt I would’ve done a different sort of job.”

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 2/12/2019.