July 26, 2020; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Robert Whittaker (red gloves) of New Zealand punches Darren Till (blue gloves) of England in their middleweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event inside Flash Forum on UFC Fight Island. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via USA TODAY Sports
Robert Whittaker overwhelmed Kelvin Gastelum in every facet, cruising to a unanimous decision in their UFC middleweight main event Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Whittaker stunned Gastelum in the first round en route to 50-45 wins across all cards.
Whittaker (23-5) more than doubled Gastelum (17-7) in total strikes, recorded four takedowns of the American and dominated control of the fight, over four minutes to just 26 seconds for Gastelum.
Whitaker has his sights set on a rematch with middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who defeated Whittaker with a second-round TKO on October 2019 at UFC 243.
“I think we should talk, mate,” Whittaker said afterward. “I think it’s about time we crossed paths once again. I think I have some tricks he hasn’t seen yet.”
Earlier, Andrei Arlovski won a unanimous decision over Chase Sherman in their heavyweight bout. It was a tightly contested fight but Arlovski scored a 29-28 decision across all cards.
Arlovski, 42, made his UFC debut in 2000 and is third all-time in appearances (35).
Jacob Malkoun recorded a unanimous decision over Abdul Razak Alhassan in their middleweight contest. Malkoun took all three cards 30-27.
Tracy Cortez defeated Justine Kish in a split decision in their women’s flyweight bout. Cortez took two cards 29-28 and 30-27 while Kish took one card, 29-28.
Luis Pena also won a split decision over Alexander Munoz in their lightweight bout. Pena was the 29-28 winner on two cards but dropped one card by the same score.
–Field Level Media