Considering the sport’s week-to-week schedule, it’s easy for exciting matchups to get lost in the shuffle, and UFC 316 is no exception.
One such bout is an all-action affair between Joe Pyfer and Kelvin Gastelum. The bout was moved to Newark when Pyfer fell ill the evening before fight night in Mexico City, and both are eager to get their hand raised in show-stealing fashion. Gastelum remains on his mission for gold, but inconsistency has plagued him over the last five years. He picked up a win over Daniel Rodriguez in his last fight, but that result came nearly a year ago. On the other hand, Pyfer is hoping to get the engine on his hype train revved up again. He bounced back well from his first loss in the Octagon with an on-brand first-round knockout of Marc-André Barriault at UFC 303, but health issues kept him from building on it. A win over a former title challenger in Gastelum is exactly the kind of thing that could get him back in a fight with someone in the top 15.
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Elsewhere on the main card, two fighters hoping to solidify their spots in the welterweight top 15 collide as Kevin Holland and Vicente Luque meet. Both fighters have struggled stringing together standout performances as of late. Holland is 6-6 in his last 12, although he is 5-3 as a welterweight in the Octagon and picked up a solid win over Gunnar Nelson in March. Luque, on the other hand, hasn’t quite returned to form that had many calling him a dark horse for a title run a few years ago. After a disappointing outing against Joaquin Buckley, the Brazilian secured his first finish in more than three years when he submitted Themba Gorimbo at UFC 310. The pair of 33-year-olds could set themselves for a top 10 battle should they get their hands raised in New Jersey.
