Preview! Adesanya, Gastelum Collide For Substitute Strap

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will crown a new interim middleweight champion when top contenders Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya collide for the substitute strap, while reigning division titleholder, Robert Whittaker, recovers f…

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will crown a new interim middleweight champion when top contenders Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya collide for the substitute strap, while reigning division titleholder, Robert Whittaker, recovers from surgery.

Gastelum vs. Adesanya is the UFC 226 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, which you must subscribe to ESPN+ to purchase, and pops off this Saturday night (April 13, 2019) inside State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

Gastelum (15-3, 1 NC) didn’t need UFC 236 to crown himself middleweight champion and recently told “The Last Stylebender” that he wasn’t worthy of fighting for the strap. Unfortunately for the former welterweight, Dana White and Co. do not agree.

Adesanya (16-0) is fresh off his unanimous decision win over Anderson Silva at UFC 234 earlier this year in Melbourne (video), the same event that saw Whittaker withdraw at the last minute, leaving opponent Gastelum (15-3, 1 NC) high and dry.

Check out their fight video preview above.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 236 fight card on fight night (click here), starting with the Fight Pass “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card on ESPN+ start time of 10 p.m. ET.

To see who else is fighting at UFC 236 click here.