Two years and two months ago, Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum were all set to go at it on pay-per-view, with the UFC middleweight crown up for grabs.
The two cleared the 185-pound bar at weigh-ins the day before UFC 234 in Whittaker’s hometown of Sydney, Australia, the champ poised for his first official undisputed title defense in friendly territory. To the outside world, nothing seemed amiss.
But Whittaker never made it to Rod Laver Arena on Feb. 10, 2019.
“Everything was kind of normal until post-weigh-ins, and then I started getting really bad pains in my stomach area, throwing up,” Whittaker told The Post over the phone on Tuesday. “I couldn’t keep anything down; couldn’t keep water down. Had to get the doctor and, you know, rush to the hospital.”
Whittaker called the sickness “a freak accident” unrelated to weight cutting. Even the doctors could not trace a cause for it and Whittaker was diagnosed with what he referred to as a twisted bowel.
Fast forward to present day, when Whittaker (22-5, 14 finishes) and Gastelum (16-6, 10 finishes) find themselves in a familiar spot with vastly different context. The two are once again scheduled for a middleweight headliner, this time at UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday as part of a UFC Fight Night card airing on ESPN. But Whittaker no longer holds the belt, and Gastelum would seem to have work to do to get a title shot against Israel Adesanya, who defeated both men later in 2019 and has lorded over the division ever since.
“I feel like I owe him this fight,” Whittaker says of Gastelum.
A rescheduled matchup between the two looked unlikely entering this year. Whittaker is coming off a pair of 2020 decision victories over well-regarded contenders Darren Till and Jared Cannonier since losing by second-round knockout to Adesanya. Gastelum, meanwhile, had yet to win a fight since Whittaker’s sudden hospitalization, losing by decision to Adesanya in an all-time classic five-rounder for the interim title, followed by a split decision loss to Till and a quick submission defeat at the hands of Jack Hermansson.
At last, Gastelum stemmed the bleeding of his first professional three-fight losing streak with a decision victory over Ian Heinisch on Feb. 13, just over two years since the title fight that never was. And when Whittaker’s original opponent, recent title challenger Paulo Costa, was forced to withdraw in mid-March, Gastelum was in the right place at the right time to get the fight Whittaker feels an obligation to fulfill.
Despite Gastelum’s tough road since UFC 234, Whittaker is cognizant of the strength of schedule his opponent has faced the past 24 months.
“That’s the problem with fighting the best in the world: There’s so little room for error, and everyone’s a killer,” Whittaker said.
The Aussie, who was born in New Zealand and represents both nations, couldn’t even get riled up by Gastelum’s behavior the night of the first booking. A cocksure Gastelum strutted from a few feet away from the cage while taking in the action — middleweight legend Anderson Silva’s clash with a then-up-and-coming Adesanya was elevated to main-event status on a few hours notice, with Adesanya victorious — borrowing Henry Cejudo’s flyweight championship belt as a prop and styling himself as the self-proclaimed middleweight champion.
Some fighters might call that act sacrilege. The three-fight skid that followed could draw the dreaded “curse” label. But to Whittaker, the posturing was simply “silly.” As far as he’s concerned it is all ancient history.
Instead, Whittaker is looking forward, with his gaze set upon recapturing the prize Adesanya claimed from him in October 2019. The current landscape at middleweight lacks a bona fide, clear-cut challenger. Whittaker remains regarded as the top contender by many, and a third victory in a row could cement his case for a rematch. The bulk of the UFC’s top fighters at 185 pounds have either lost to Adesanya already or were recently beaten by those who’ve also, well, lost to Adesanya already.
A win over the 29-year-old Gastelum, who remains respected in the division despite his struggles, could be what pushes Whittaker over the top in the race back to “The Last Stylebender” and his championship gold.
“I’m one of the head guys in this division,” says the 30-year-old Whittaker. “I run this division, and I’m here to stay. I’m a dangerous fight for everybody.
“… But I’m just doing my thing, going around, being ‘The Reaper’ just going around ending people.”