Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum are, as of Thursday evening, officially part of the UFC Hall of Fame.
The middleweight pair were inducted into the Hall as part of the Class of 2025, going into the Fight Wing for their 2019 classic, which saw Adesanya capture a decision win to claim the UFC‘s interim middleweight title.
Adesanya, of course, would go on to unify the belt, defeating Robert Whittaker, and has had two reigns as middleweight champion. Speaking to Cageside Press during the UFC Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, both men reflected on the fight itself.
For Adesanya, it wasn’t as life changing as you might think, but after watching the bout back, it was clearly a historic moment. “After being in the cage, I was just hungry. I wanted to eat, and wanted to sleep,” Adesanya recalled, downplaying the typical “life changing” clichés you hear after big fights. “But yeah, for me, after the fight, when you go back and look on it and realize what an amazing moment that was, and it was history in the making. And here we are now, about to cement ourselves in history with that fight.”
Of course, while fighting is an individual sport, teams are a crucial component, and Adesanya has had names like Alexander Volkanovski, Kai Kara-France, Carlos Ulberg and others along for the ride. “It takes a village, and all of us together, what is it? A rising tide lifts all ships. When we all rise, we shine.”
As for Kelvin Gastelum, he learned more about his opponent than about himself in the fight.
“Obviously I think we get better after a fight like that, but I think I learned more about him than I learned about me in that fight, for sure,” Gastelum told us. “We learned a lot about him and how he came out in that fifth round and really leveled up. We got to see just how deep he could go, so I got to know him a little bit better.”
Despite winning The Ultimate Fighter and going toe-to-toe with one of the greatest middleweights ever, Gastelum doesn’t feel the fans have changed their perspective about his prospects.
“I’ve still been the underdog in a few of my fights, and I think that’s just going to be the story of my career. You know what, I like being in that position. I like when my back’s up against the wall, when people are writing me off. I think that’s when I perform better.”
Watch our full interviews with Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum from the 2025 UFC Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony above.
