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5 Fights to Make for Kelvin Gastelum After UFC 180

Kelvin Gastelum’s storybook ride from last pick of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen to top-10 welterweight became a stark reality on December 15. The TUF 17 winner submitted Jake Ellenberger at the end of their first round co-main …

Kelvin Gastelum‘s storybook ride from last pick of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen to top-10 welterweight became a stark reality on December 15. The TUF 17 winner submitted Jake Ellenberger at the end of their first round co-main event spot at UFC 180.

The No. 11 ranked Gastelum took on the seventh-ranked UFC welterweight in a fight that was set to prove one of two things. Either Gastelum was going to solidify himself as a top-10 welterweight contender, or Ellenberger was going to silence critics and put the breaks on the rising prospect. What happened was nothing short of astonishing. The 23-year-old Gastelum finished The Juggernaut with a rear-naked choke in the closing seconds of the first frame, after a takedown and subsequent scramble.

Gastelum, a winner of four straight, was in trouble late, but brilliantly reversed the position and quickly took the back of the reeling Ellenberger. The Mexican fighter put on a great display of jiu-jitsu, but that wasn’t the only highlight. After it appeared that Ellenberger was getting the best of him striking-wise, Gastelum landed a critical takedown and was able to land a few powerful shots.

With the win over Ellenberger, Gastelum enters the top-10 of the 170-pound division and will require another elite test. Here are five potential opponents for the rising welterweight. For the purposes of this list, bouts were ranked based on their likelihood of occurring.

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4 Fights to Make for Kelvin Gastelum

Kelvin Gastelum looked fantastic in his UFC 180 win over Jake Ellenberger on Saturday. After he weathered some big shots from The Juggernaut, a late first-round scramble allowed The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 winner to take his opponent’s back and end …

Kelvin Gastelum looked fantastic in his UFC 180 win over Jake Ellenberger on Saturday. After he weathered some big shots from The Juggernaut, a late first-round scramble allowed The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 winner to take his opponent’s back and end the bout with a rear-naked choke.

This result is significant for Gastelum, who should expect some opportunities to face bigger names in the near future. These four men would serve as interesting opponents for his next showing in the Octagon.

These opponents provide a mix of experience, fighting styles and abilities that could truly test how far Gastelum has come in his young mixed martial arts career.

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Jake Ellenberger vs. Kelvin Gastelum: What We Learned from Welterweight Tilt

The UFC made its first trek to the high altitude of Mexico City on Saturday night for UFC 180, where Fabricio Werdum became the interim heavyweight champion in the night’s main event. In the co-main event, Kelvin Gastelum put in a star-making per…

Gastelum came into the fight with an undefeated record of 9-0 and was going up against his toughest opponent to date. What did we learn from this welterweight clash?

Gastelum Is a Top 10 Welterweight

The biggest thing we learned is that Gastelum is legit. Ellenberger has had 12 prior UFC fights against some of the best welterweights in the world. None of them finished The Juggernaut as emphatically as Gastelum did. None put Ellenberger away in the first round.

Gastelum did it with ease.

Heading into this fight, we knew Gastelum was a very talented prospect, and at 23 years old, he has plenty of time to grow into a top-level mixed martial artist. At UFC 180 we learned that the speed of that growth continues to accelerate.

Ellenberger Won’t Be Fighting for the Title Anytime Soon

This was a must-win fight for Ellenberger. His lackluster decision loss to Rory MacDonald and third-round TKO loss to Robbie Lawler left him with his back against the wall. Now he’s on the dreaded three-fight losing streak. Though I don’t foresee him getting cut from the UFC altogether, he has a steep climb to get back to where he once was near the top of the welterweight division.

Gastelum Deserves Someone in the Top Five

Sometimes when young fighters get pushed too fast into fights against savvy veterans, even in victory, they show holes in their game, and their weaknesses become more glaring. Not the case with Gastelum. This was the stiffest test he’s faced in his career, and he passed it with flying colors. He was just as quick and light on his feet as Ellenberger, and he wasted no time going for the finish when he saw the opening.

He deserves an opponent in the Top Five, and a fight with the returning Carlos Condit or perhaps Tyron Woodley would be great for Gastelum to quickly get in position for a title shot.

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Is Fighting Lesser Name Opponents Hurting King Mo Lawal’s Brand?

Muhammed Lawal’s career and legacy are in a very difficult place. With his upcoming bout against Joe Vedepo at Bellator 131, the former Strikeforce champion has his chance to gain his sixth win in the Bellator MMA cage since joining the promotion in 2013. However, his legacy as an important name in mixed martial arts continues to be damaged because he is fighting what many would consider “lesser” opponents.

Outside of the fight with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at Bellator 120, years have passed since Lawal has faced a ranked opponent. In fact, many would argue that “Rampage” is well beyond his prime and wasn’t a considerable threat at light heavyweight at the time of their fight. In an individual sport such as MMA, the value of Lawal’s overall legacy will be determined by the strength of whom he’s faced. At this point in time it would be tough to consider “King Mo” one of the best to compete at the 205-pound weight limit.

Yet, one must wonder if he should even care. Mixed martial arts is a sport based on prize-fighting—where athletes are competing for the chance to make the most money possible during their short time in action. Lawal understands this point and intends to make the most of it. He made his point in an August conversation with Sherdog.

“This was one of the easiest decisions I could have made,” Lawal said in reference to signing a long-term deal with Bellator once Scott Coker replaced Bjorn Rebney as president of the promotion. “This is where I want to be. I don’t care who I fight, when it is, or where it is. I get paid to fight, and that’s what I’m going to do for Bellator. That’s it.”

If this is the mentality that “King Mo” is taking for his MMA career, he should not feel threatened with the idea that his legacy is being hurt because of the men he is fighting. As long as he continues winning and earning paychecks then his job is done. But what will current fans and those of the future say about Lawal in comparison to his peers? That is where this conversation becomes interesting.

One constant in sports is that major athletes and their career accolades tend to be lowered as time passes. At one point they may be considered the greatest to ever play their sport. Years later more advanced athletes may recreate or surpass those same feats which will overshadow what was done in the past. This has occurred in mixed martial arts as the accolades of men such as Jon Jones and Georges St. Pierre continue to surpass early champions like Tito Ortiz and Frank Shamrock.

The same is going to happen to “King Mo” Lawal. At 13-4, Lawal has experienced much more success than failure in his six-year professional career. Unfortunately, many will question the value of that success based on the names he has competed against. While there are different levels of ability in MMA, the fact remains that fighters can fall at any moment in time. MMA Oddsbreakers was one of the many outlets that expected Lawal to defeat Emanuel Newton in their first meeting at Bellator 90, but that still stands as one of the best highlight-reel knockouts of 2013 (via MMA Mania).

Combat sports are a tough realm to judge a fighter against his peers. Fighters can only defeat the men and women that are placed in front of them. Muhammed Lawal has done that for the majority of his career, which means he is successful as a prize fighter. While he may not receive the praise that comes to others, as long as he continues to win then he should consider his career a success.

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The 11 Best Fighters of Mexican Heritage in MMA History

Whether it was Julio Cesar Chavez’s dominance through the 1980s and early ’90s, Oscar De La Hoya’s days as the Golden Boy in the 1990s and early 2000s or Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s ongoing rise to supremacy, Mexico has always boasted its fair share of imp…

“I keep saying this, but it’s true: the baddest dudes in the world, throughout the history of the world, have come from Mexico and Latin America,” UFC President Dana White told the media in Mexico City in August. “Your Salvador Sanchezes, your Julio Cesar Chavezes, and the list goes on and on. In the MMA world, all of those guys exist in [Mexico] right now, and you’re going to see them popping up over the next six years. You’re going to see Mexico start to dominate, like it did in boxing.”

Mexico hasn’t boasted the same sort of royalty in MMA compared to boxing—that’s Brazil. Still, it’s done a solid job of birthing some of the better fighters the sport has ever seen.

Here’s a list of the top 10 fighters of Mexican heritage in MMA history.

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5 Former Strikeforce Fighters Who Are Threats to UFC Gold

When the UFC purchased Strikeforce back in March 2011, it was first believed that the organization was going to continue to operate under then-President Scott Coker. But in January 2013, after Tarec Saffiedine became the promotion’s last welterweight champion, big brother brought over a stash of prime Strikeforce talent to stockpile several of its weight divisions.

Strikeforce had been the No. 2 mixed martial arts organization in America for roughly six years. They fostered elite-level talent, such as Gilbert Melendez and Jake Shields, which helped spark debate over who exactly was the best in the world. Since the takeover, Strikeforce fighters have gone 0-5 in championship fights, with three left to be played out. Those who have failed in their efforts to capture UFC gold include Shields, Melendez, Robbie Lawler and Nick Diaz, who lost twice.

There are three championship bouts in the light heavyweight, lightweight and welterweight divisions featuring the pride of Strikeforce. Melendez and Lawler are both back at it again—with Melendez facing an entirely different foe this time around. Each lost a close split decision in his initial title fight. The last one on the docket pits Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier against Jon Jones.

We are a year and a half removed from the time Strikeforce contracts were transferred over to UFC brass, and they have yet to establish a championship reign. Which fighters have the best chance to become UFC title holders?

The following set of rankings is composed of the most able—and dangerous—threats to champions. This does not mean that the fighter necessarily needs to be challenging for a belt. Fighters who have fought for a belt prior don’t hold an advantage over rising divisional candidates.

Fighters in the women’s bantamweight division are also candidates, however—spoiler alert—none made the list. Here are the five biggest Strikeforce-bred threats to UFC champions—but first, here are a few fighters who failed to make the cut.

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