Report: Kelvin Gastelum & Israel Adesanya Fighting For Vacant Interim Middleweight Title At UFC 236
The vacant UFC Interim Middleweight Title will get a new owner at UFC 236 according to Brett Okamoto of ESPN as #4 Kelvin Gastelum is in action against #5 Israel Adesanya.
Gastelum (15-3-0-1NC) enters the contest on a two fight winning streak, having defeated the duo of Michael Bisping and Ronaldo Souza. Gastelum has suffered three losses as a professional MMA fighter, with two of them coming to past and/or current UFC champions. Gastelum was supposed to challenge Robert Whittaker for the UFC Middleweight Title in the main event of UFC 234, but Whittaker pulled out of the bout due to injury.
Adesanya (16-0-0) has already competed five times under the UFC banner, last defeating former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 234. Adesanya has picked up sixteen wins as a professional MMA fighter and thirteen of them have come by way of KO/TKO. Adesanya has already headlined two UFC cards, defeating the aforementioned Silva at UFC 234 and Brad Tavares at the UFC Ultimate Fighter 27 Finale.
UFC 236 is set for Saturday, April 13 from a location to be announced and with a main event to be announced. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.