Alexander Gustafsson has the power to reignite passion for Jon Jones’ sequel

Perhaps it’s telling of just how good things have been so far in 2015 that Alexander Gustafsson — The Man Who Nearly Beat Jon Jones — is quietly sneaking up on a stakes-stacked main event this weekend. Here is Gustafsson getting ready to remake his claim to a rematch in front of 30,000 throaty partisans in his native Sweden while America deals with a blinding Conor McGregor hangover. Thems are the spoils right there.

Under any circumstance in 2014, Gustafsson vs. Anthony Johnson for the right to Jones would have felt a little bit extraordinary. It will air on FOX in the States, with the fights happening at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m. locally. That’s reminiscent of “The Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974, back when Ali and Foreman made history in the wee hours in Zaire. In Scandinavia, it’ll be icy blondes and tundra in the backdrop rather than B.B. King and Mobutu Sese Seko, but otherwise you can dub this one, “The ‘Rumble’ in the IKEA.”

This event will be the second-largest gate in terms of the sheer volume of souls stuffed through the turnstiles, second only to UFC 129, when 55,000 turned out to watch Georges St-Pierre slowly drain Jake Shields of his vitality in Toronto. Sweden loves its challenger the way it did Ingemar Johansson half-a-century ago. Should Gustafsson win, he punches his ticket back to Jones, which for a little while there was the hottest rematch conceivable.

You remember that first fight at UFC 165. It was everything we ever wanted in a title fight. It was Gustafsson executing the unthinkable. It was Jones being forced to dig deep and adapt. It was Gustafsson showing guts and Jones showing heart and all kinds of plot twists in between.

So how’d we get sidetracked from the sequel? What happened?

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A pothole became a vortex, is what happened! Jones wasn’t keen on an immediate rematch, which led to a title defense against Glover Teixeira, which led to Gustafsson and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who morphed into Jimi Manuwa, who quickly became mincemeat. After some pages flew off the calendar, that led to Gustafsson-Jones II, which was halted when Gustafsson suffered a minor knee injury, which led to Daniel Cormier stepping in on his own bum knee. With the feud between Cormier and Jones becoming part of the American pastime, Gustafsson lost his place.

It’s been a lot of damn craziness.

Too much craziness just to get back to the possibility of the thing we were originally pining for, back before we were pining in different directions. The consolation for Gustafsson’s wait is this weekend’s bout with Johnson in Stockholm, which becomes his chance to once again ignite the passion for his rematch with Jones. Now that Cormier and Jones has played out, and Jones is still the guy, the most intriguing rematch conceivable begins to come back into focus.

And that’s where we are. Gustafsson has it within his power to redeclare — emphatically — his rematch with Jones, a fight that has lived in limbo for far too long.

Only thing is… this isn’t Lil’ Nog or Manuwa that Gustafsson is dealing with, it’s “Rumble” Johnson, the one-time troubled welterweight who has reimagined himself as a hulk of a light heavyweight. When Gustafsson’s (sometime) training partner Phil Davis began looking through Johnson to see Jon Jones at UFC 172, he got dismantled. Not that Gustafsson will do the same, but Johnson is carrying a lot of disruption in his hands. Should Gustafsson take one of those powerbombs that Johnson downed Nogueira with in July, Gustafsson may drift away from that Jones rematch for years to come.

With Jones’ flirtation of moving to heavyweight at some point, Gustafsson may cede his right to a rematch for good.

That’s why this fight means a lot not just for Gustafsson, but for the country he’s fighting in on Saturday. Sweden goes as Gustafsson goes. Likewise, Johnson could put the Gustafsson-Jones rematch forever in pending. By doing so, he’d get his own title shot, where new narratives bury the old.

There’s a lot hanging in the balance in Sweden.

Any time you’re dealing in fortune swings like this, it’s fun; nothing stokes a gambler’s libido quite like the possibility of ruin. And that there will be 30,000 people at this afterhours club who’re well aware of the fact makes it not only fun, but also pretty damn unique.

Perhaps it’s telling of just how good things have been so far in 2015 that Alexander Gustafsson — The Man Who Nearly Beat Jon Jones — is quietly sneaking up on a stakes-stacked main event this weekend. Here is Gustafsson getting ready to remake his claim to a rematch in front of 30,000 throaty partisans in his native Sweden while America deals with a blinding Conor McGregor hangover. Thems are the spoils right there.

Under any circumstance in 2014, Gustafsson vs. Anthony Johnson for the right to Jones would have felt a little bit extraordinary. It will air on FOX in the States, with the fights happening at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m. locally. That’s reminiscent of “The Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974, back when Ali and Foreman made history in the wee hours in Zaire. In Scandinavia, it’ll be icy blondes and tundra in the backdrop rather than B.B. King and Mobutu Sese Seko, but otherwise you can dub this one, “The ‘Rumble’ in the IKEA.”

This event will be the second-largest gate in terms of the sheer volume of souls stuffed through the turnstiles, second only to UFC 129, when 55,000 turned out to watch Georges St-Pierre slowly drain Jake Shields of his vitality in Toronto. Sweden loves its challenger the way it did Ingemar Johansson half-a-century ago. Should Gustafsson win, he punches his ticket back to Jones, which for a little while there was the hottest rematch conceivable.

You remember that first fight at UFC 165. It was everything we ever wanted in a title fight. It was Gustafsson executing the unthinkable. It was Jones being forced to dig deep and adapt. It was Gustafsson showing guts and Jones showing heart and all kinds of plot twists in between.

So how’d we get sidetracked from the sequel? What happened?

More Coverage: UFC on FOX 14 Results | UFC news
Download MMA Fighting iPhone App

A pothole became a vortex, is what happened! Jones wasn’t keen on an immediate rematch, which led to a title defense against Glover Teixeira, which led to Gustafsson and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who morphed into Jimi Manuwa, who quickly became mincemeat. After some pages flew off the calendar, that led to Gustafsson-Jones II, which was halted when Gustafsson suffered a minor knee injury, which led to Daniel Cormier stepping in on his own bum knee. With the feud between Cormier and Jones becoming part of the American pastime, Gustafsson lost his place.

It’s been a lot of damn craziness.

Too much craziness just to get back to the possibility of the thing we were originally pining for, back before we were pining in different directions. The consolation for Gustafsson’s wait is this weekend’s bout with Johnson in Stockholm, which becomes his chance to once again ignite the passion for his rematch with Jones. Now that Cormier and Jones has played out, and Jones is still the guy, the most intriguing rematch conceivable begins to come back into focus.

And that’s where we are. Gustafsson has it within his power to redeclare — emphatically — his rematch with Jones, a fight that has lived in limbo for far too long.

Only thing is… this isn’t Lil’ Nog or Manuwa that Gustafsson is dealing with, it’s “Rumble” Johnson, the one-time troubled welterweight who has reimagined himself as a hulk of a light heavyweight. When Gustafsson’s (sometime) training partner Phil Davis began looking through Johnson to see Jon Jones at UFC 172, he got dismantled. Not that Gustafsson will do the same, but Johnson is carrying a lot of disruption in his hands. Should Gustafsson take one of those powerbombs that Johnson downed Nogueira with in July, Gustafsson may drift away from that Jones rematch for years to come.

With Jones’ flirtation of moving to heavyweight at some point, Gustafsson may cede his right to a rematch for good.

That’s why this fight means a lot not just for Gustafsson, but for the country he’s fighting in on Saturday. Sweden goes as Gustafsson goes. Likewise, Johnson could put the Gustafsson-Jones rematch forever in pending. By doing so, he’d get his own title shot, where new narratives bury the old.

There’s a lot hanging in the balance in Sweden.

Any time you’re dealing in fortune swings like this, it’s fun; nothing stokes a gambler’s libido quite like the possibility of ruin. And that there will be 30,000 people at this afterhours club who’re well aware of the fact makes it not only fun, but also pretty damn unique.