Kelvin Gastelum is familiar with both Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland ahead of their middleweight title fight at UFC 297. Gastelum used to train with Strickland and was booked to fight Du Plessis at UFC 273, but he was forced out of the bout due to an injury.
With Gastelum having trained with Strickland in the past, and having spent a training camp preparing for Du Plessis, he does feel like he knows both of them well.
Entering the fight at UFC 297, Kelvin Gastelum believes Dricus Du Plessis will try to use his size and strength to beat Sean Strickland and become the middleweight champ.
“He’s a very strong guy, a very physical guy. I can’t remember the last time someone did what he did to Rob Whittaker. He TKO’d him in the first round, that was pretty remarkable, no one in the middleweight division has done that, I think. I know at welterweight he was knocked out, but he made it look easy, the grappling exchanges he looked strong. I’m expecting the best version of Dricus come fight night,” Gastelum said on his YouTube channel.
Although Kelvin Gastelum does think Dricus Du Plessis will try to use his size against Sean Strickland, he doubts it will work. Instead, he believes Strickland knows how to fight against that style, and Gastelum wouldn’t be surprised to see the middleweight champ use his wrestling.
“He would get the best out of me, people have only seen his striking, I actually think his grappling is better than his striking. He doesn’t wrestle, I don’t know why, he’s a psychopath. But, his grappling and jiu-jitsu is even better, he’s a jiu-jitsu black belt, I know he has really good wrestling, but doesn’t use it in fights. Will Dricus his size, his strength against Sean? I don’t think so.”
Kelvin Gastelum shares prediction for Strickland-Du Plessis
With Kelvin Gastelum thinking Dricus Du Plessis won’t be able to implement his size and strength, the welterweight contender does expect to hear ‘And Still’ at UFC 297.
Gastelum believes Strickland will be able to control the pace, he does expect the middleweight champ will win by TKO to retain his belt.
“My official prediction at the end of the day will be Sean winning by TKO maybe in the third or fourth round. He’s not a guy who finishes fights early, he can, however, get it done later in the fight, maybe in the fourth or fifth round, he will get a TKO victory,” Gastelum said.
Sean Strickland is currently a -118 favorite to defeat Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 on Saturday.
