The interim title discussion has continued to drag on.
With light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier scheduled to move up in weight to challenge heavyweight titleholder Stipe Miocic at UFC 226, which is set for July 7, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada, top 205-pound contender Alexander Gustafsson recently said that his next fight ‘must’ be for an interim strap:
“Me fighting D.C. [Cormier] for the real title, that opportunity went out the window,” Gustafsson said in a recent interview with ESPN.com. “I feel I earned my spot off my last performance — but here we are. With D.C. moving up, the next step for me should be for an interim title. I brought it up to the UFC. Let’s see what happens. All I know is that in my situation, whoever they put in front of me next, it must be for the interim title,” he added.
“The Mauler”, who has been dealing with injuries as of late, is riding a two-fight winning streak that includes victories over the likes of Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira. Prior to that, he had dropped a split decision to Cormier in their first bout at UFC 192 in October 2015.
Had Cormier not elected to move up in weight, Gustafsson likely would’ve been given the next title shot, which is why he finds the situation to be unfair:
“I feel like I’ve been taking fights and climbing ladders, climbing rankings, my entire career,” Gustafsson said. “I’m 31 years old. I still feel I’ll compete for many years, but right now, every fight has to have a thought behind it. It has to take me the right way. Every fight, you take damage. You take damage in your training camp. I just came back from an injury recently. I’ve got that fire in me, and I want to take a fight that will actually take me towards my goal.
“D.C. is moving up to heavyweight and that’s good for him and it’s good for the organization, but for me, the No. 1 contender, it’s not fair. It’s not fair at all. And no one knows what D.C. will do after this fight. He may put his gloves down and walk away,” he concluded.
What do you make of Gustafsson’s comments?
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