San Antonio, TX — Middleweight Dustin Stoltzfus steps into Noche UFC on short notice, facing Kelvin Gastelum this Saturday in San Antonio, Texas.
Noting that a longer camp might have been better mentally, but a shorter one comes with its own benefits in terms of the physical side, Stoltzfus (16-7) discussed the bout, and his struggles to find consistency ahead of the fight.
In advance of the bout, Stoltzfus has come across Gastelum “just once,” he revealed during Wednesday’s Noche UFC media day. “Just said ‘hi.’ Wasn’t too exciting.”
Stoltzfus seems far too laid back to really be looking for a grudge match, frankly. “Seems like a super-cool guy. I have no reason to have any bad blood with him,” he added. That said, the 33-year old noted that he does like catching a glimpse of his opponent before a fight.
“I do like seeing my opponent; it reminds me that they’re just a human too,” stated Stoltzfus. Asked if he was scouting for any weakness or injuries, he noted that Gastelum “was just sitting down signing posters. Even if I was trying to see something, there wasn’t anything to see.”
The knock on Dustin Stoltzfus thus far in his UFC career has been consistency. He owns two Performance of the Night bonuses in nine UFC fights, but holds a 3-6 record. He’s been trading wins and losses since 2022 and enters Noche UFC off a loss against Nursulton Ruziboev.
“I could use a win in general. I know it was a close fight, but I feel like I should have won my last one. I’m just trying to get out here and finally get a win streak going,” replied Stoltzfus when asked about what a win over Gastelum, a former TUF champ, would do for him. “It’s the first step to that. I’m tired of bouncing back and forth between wins and losses. And so just go out there, do my job, do what I can do and try to put a win streak together.”
What’s been the road block thus far? That, he added, is “hard to tell.”
“Some of it is coming into a debut, and being really sick and weak. And that just destroyed my confidence for the first couple fights.” After beating Joe Pyfer on the Contender Series, Stoltzfus started his UFC run 0-3. “And even when I did fairly well, the nervousness would catch up with me and I would make stupid mistakes.”
“I feel like the second half of my UFC career, obviously mistakes are made in fights and I’ve been making some, but there’s a bit of bad luck in there too. I feel like I’m getting called out and punished really hard on mistakes that wouldn’t have to be punished that hard.”
As Stoltzfus sees it, plenty of mistakes are made in fights, but the fighters making them still go on to win. “When I make a mistake, I get punished really hard for it. Part of it is just trying to reduce the mistakes that I make, trying to reduce the bad decisions I make, but at the end of the day it is a bit of a dice roll, what we’re doing out here, so sometimes you just have a bit of bad luck.”
Still, he hasn’t hit a skid like the one to start his UFC career, the wins have come, and the losses have been close. As Stoltzfus later put it, “the pieces are all coming together. Now coming into my tenth fight, it’s about time, but it’s been a process.”
Watch the full Noche UFC media day appearance by Dustin Stoltzfus above.
