By the Numbers: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Israel Adesanya

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Kelvin Gastelum was supposed to challenge Robert Whittaker for the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title, but the fight didn’t push through after the latter suffered an injury. Israel Adesanya came into the picture with his exceptional performances, the most recent of which resulted in a decision victory over Anderson Silva.

On April 13, Gastelum and Adesanya will meet for the interim middleweight strap at UFC 236 in Atlanta. Here is a by-the-numbers comparison between the two high-profile middleweights.

Record after first five fights in the UFC

The two top middleweights started their Octagon run with stellar records, going 5-0 against quality opponents. Gastelum entered his debut as an underdog and won via split decision over Uriah Hall. He followed it up with four wins that included a stoppage of Jake Ellenberger and a split decision over Rick Story. Adesanya, however, faced more high-profile opponents, such as Silva, Derek Brunson and Brad Tavares. In his debut, “The Last Stylebender” stopped Rob Wilkinson with knees and punches.

UFC headliners

Gastelum has been part of the main event four times in his UFC career, and these were at "The Ultimate Fighter: Latin American 2" finale (versus Neil Magny), UFC Fight Night 106 (versus Vitor Belfort), UFC on Fox 25 (versus Chris Weidman) and UFC Fight Night 122 (versus Michael Bisping). Adesanya only has two but he did it within his first five fights. In only his third bout, Adesanya figured on his first headliner at the "Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated" finale (versus Tavares) and UFC 234 (versus Silva).

Finishing rate

Gastelum and Adesanya combine for 23 professional stoppages. Gastelum prides of six KO/TKO wins and four submission wins, which makes for a 67 percent finishing rate. As for Adesanya, all his 13 stoppage victories came by KO/TKO, which translate to an 81 percent finishing rate.

Takedown accuracy

Wrestling is obviously not Adesanya’s strong suit, but he makes up for it with his exceptional striking. He prefers to stand up and in fact, has never landed a takedown in UFC competition whereas Gastelum, a former state championship wrestler, has scored nine takedowns out of 18 attempts, which makes for a 50 percent takedown accuracy.

Striking accuracy

The striking department belongs to Adesanya who has landed 306 significant strikes out of 568 attempts in only five UFC bouts. This accounts for a 54 percent striking accuracy. Gastelum is no slouch himself as he holds a 44 percent striking accuracy after landing 637 out of 1,458 significant strikes.

Strikes in a single UFC fight

Adesanya may be leading the way in striking but it’s Gastelum who landed more significant strikes in a single UFC bout. He tallied 124 on Johny Hendricks for a unanimous decision victory. Adesanya’s highest striking output in one Octagon fight is 119 against Tavares.

Post-fight bonuses

Only once in his five UFC fights did Adesanya come out without a post-fight bonus. He has three Performance of the Night and one Fight of the Night citations. Gastelum, for his part, has earned three Performance of the Night and two Fight of the Night honors.