UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Gastelum

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Almost have to believe the UFC will make him change his nickname before putting it on the broadcast. They made Kevin Croom change his as well im pretty sure 

Dakota "Fanning's" Bush??

Egregious, salacious; outrageous!.

Whittaker vs. Gastelum
Robert Whittaker, TKO, R5
whittaker died for our sins, now he has returned to bring us to salvation

Klose vs. Stephens
Jeremy Stephens, TKO, R2
isn't it obvious?

Ramos vs. Algeo
Bill Algeo, DEC
senor perfecto, haha awesome

Ramos has some creative striking and good jiu jitsu. He’s good at managing range and he has sneaky strikes from clinch distance. Algeo is patient and has a pretty relaxed approach. He last won against Carlyle, but it wasn’t pretty. Algeo is a tough dude, though I don’t particularly like that he keeps his hands down, especially against a guy who is quick and takes tricky angles. Algeo also starts slower than Ramos, which means that in the first round he’ll likely be on the defensive. In the first round of their fight, Carlyle had Algeo in some pretty compromised positions, and I think Ramos would finish the fight if given the same opportunities. To me, Algeo’s toughness and cardio are his best assets, and he may be able to secure a few takedowns if Ramos gets spinny/flashy, opening himself to takedown and combo counters. When it comes to skill, though, I think Ramos takes it. Ramos, 1st or 2nd round sub.

Kelvin  has a really good shot at knocking out Rob. Kelvin has really good hands and can crack while Rob been drop in 3 out of 4 of his last fight and been drop 5 times with one of them knocking him out cold. And chins don’t get better, there only get worst, Rob gonna eat a counter at lest once and I see him going down . Gastulum by KO is paying +550. 

I'm baffled at the amount of people that think Kelvin is gonna knock anyone out.

He knocked out a washed up past his prime Bisping a long time ago .Let's chill on the Kelvin KO talk.

^ To counter both @Ngannou and @Damien. I think Kelvin has KO power in spades, mostly because of his hand speed. But he couldn't knock the fuzz off of a peach when compared to Cannonier's power, and Whitaker ate a few shots from crystal boy like thin mints when they fought. I'd say there's less than a 5% that Kelvin KOs Whitaker.

I’m genuinely shocked anyone believes Gastelum will win this, let alone KO Whittaker. For me Whittaker is levels above Gastelum, will be an easy win for him especially as Kelvin hasn’t had a full camp 

I know he has quick hands, but Kelvin hasn't KO'd anyone since Bisping in 2017, and that was a quick turn around after the GSP loss. His two T(KOs) Bisping (out) and Tim Kennedy at the end of his career by TKO. He dropped a chinny Chris Weidman at the end of the first round in their fight but the bell rang (he would have gotten the finish if time enough was left) 

I don't think Kelvin is showing too much in his last fights, he seemed to peak in the Israel fight. I think that was the best he'll ever be, but he is still young. I think he has a submission weakness, but he's young enough to fix it, but that's just an inkling I have about him.

you forgot the over turned non TRT Vitor win as well lol 

his knee is in bad shape too right? I think hermansson tore it up, rob should stomp on it lol

Counterpoint to everyone, Kelvin drop most people he fought at lest once, the only person to knockdown Adesanya in the UFC and has the best knockdown rate in UFC history at one point  while Rob get drop in all his recent fight beside the Cannonor fight as Cannonor didn't land anything on the chin so his power doesn't really matter, Gastulum is  gonna drop Rob, Only thing is Rob like T-Ferg where he  gets drop alot, but hard to finish when drop,

People are just really down on Gastulum because of his recent few, But If He perfume, dude a monster,  Rob is 10-1 in his last 11 for a reason so I think Rob should be favourite . I just hate how all the fans think Rob winning is a shore thing,  This is gonna be a fight. Rob ain't gonna walk through Gastulum easly. 


BTW im one of the only few picking Gastulm, Can you be baffled  when only 8% of people are picking Gastulum and i'm the only person on the forum giving Kelvin a shot. 

* Edited at 04.13.2021, 5:22 PM ET *

I didn’t expect it, but this is the toughest fight on the card for me to pick. Espino has fantastic wrestling and good movement for a big dude. Then again, so does Romanov. I think Espino has slightly better foot movement, and I actually think he’s the better wrestling technically, but I’m not sure how much of that will matter against the younger and more explosive Romanov. I would say that Espino has the advantage of knowing what it feels like going the distance since Romanov has never been there professionally, but seeing Romanov come out hot in the second round against Martinez after seemingly emptying the tank in the first was pretty ******’ impressive. It makes me think that Romanov can and will dig deep to look for a finish or get ahead on the scorecards. Also, Romanov throws those biscuit paws with more volume and intent than Espino. When Espino throws, it looks like he’s setting up takedowns, mostly. It’s not like this wouldn’t work against Romanov, but I imagine taking Romanov down would be a pretty tall order. Looking at their age difference, Romanov is entering his prime for a heavyweight while Espino should be just leaving his. If this fight doesn’t end early in a flurry (or a sub while they’re dry), I think it ends late in the second or early in the third with Romanov emptying the tank. Romanov by late GnP.

Gastelum will want to wrestle Rob and make this fight dirty, otherwise I feel Rob picks him apart 

* Edited at 04.13.2021, 9:00 PM ET *

Razak Alhassan vs. Malkoun
Abdul Razak Alhassan, TKO, R1
sucks for malkoun

@imperatorfishrat 👌🏻thanks bro 

I am by no means an expert mma analyst, I welcome all the criticism and opposite opinions, il take it on the chin always because I know there's loads more out there that know more than me 

* Edited at 04.13.2021, 11:09 PM ET *