Kelvin Gastelum believes close friend Yair Rodriguez will “make it look easy” in UFC 290 title fight with Alex Volkanovski

Kelvin Gastelum believes his close friend Yair Rodriguez will ‘make it look easy’ in his UFC 290 title fight with Alex Volkanovski.

UFC 290 takes place on Saturday, July 8th at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Headlining the event is the featherweight title fight between Yair Rodriguez (16-3 MMA) and Alexander Volkanovski (25-2 MMA).

The former interim middleweight challenger, Gastelum, speaking on his YouTube channel, provided his thoughts on the upcoming battle between Rodriguez and Volkanovski:

“Yair Rodríguez versus Alex Volkanovski, happening at UFC 290… It is the fight that I am looking forward to the most. Yair Rodríguez is a really close friend of mine. We’ve actually lived in the same house together for a few months… We trained constantly together… He took the fight with ‘Korean Zombie’ why he was living with me, so we were training all the time. I remember him showing me that elbow.”

Continuing Gastelum said (h/t MMANews):

“This guy (Yair Rodriguez) has always been an incredible talent. His mentality has always been very, very different. He takes extreme calculations on how to approach each fight. For a 145er, the guy’s strength is pretty incredible. His athleticism, just the way that he moves, is not like any other ’45er I know. I know what he brings to the table… I’m not saying this is gonna be easy. I just think Yair is gonna make it look easy… I know it sounds crazy, but I think Yair is gonna make it look easy.”

Gastelum (18-8 MMA) himself is preparing for his upcoming fight with Shavkat Rakhmonov (17-0 MMA) on Saturday, September 16th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Gastelum, 31, will be entering the Octagon following his most recent victory over Chris Curtis (30-10 MMA) in April of this year at UFC 287. Rakhmonov, 28, in undefeated coming into his fight with Gastelum.

Do you agree with Kelvin Gastelum that it will be Yair Rodriguez defeating ‘The Great’ on July 8th?

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