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Former light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson discusses his move to heavyweight and his “sweet spot” fighting weight.
Alexander Gustafsson decided to call it a career following a loss to Anthony Smith just over a year ago. It was a surprising move, considering he was only 32 at the time. But like most fighters that flirt with retirement, he’s going to give it another shot. Gustafsson will return on July 25th at a new weight class, moving up to heavyweight for the first time in his UFC career to meet former champion Fabricio Werdum.
Gustafsson spoke to Mauler Bet about the move, and detailed what weight he will enter the cage at:
“I’ve always seen myself as a big light heavyweight fighter, I have a big frame and walk around quite heavy. So I’ve always had to cut around 33 lbs to make weight. And since the fight got finalized just now, with 6-7 weeks to go I wouldn’t have been able to make LHW anyway. But regardless I would’ve made to move to HW to try it out, it’s a new challenge to put it simply. For me to be able to down a chicken pasta in fight week hasn’t happened in 15 years.
“My walk around weight is at about 236-238lbs and at the time of the fight I think I’ll be around 231-233lbs. Even though I’m moving up a weight class I don’t want to add any unnecessary mass. I want to stay at the weight I perform the best at in training and that is around 227-231lbs. It’s right at the sweet spot, I feel strong there while also retaining speed and keeping myself injury free. In the past when I’d made my 33 lbs weight cut there would always be some small injury, my back, my knee or something else. It takes a toll on you to make that cut during all these years.”
Gustafsson (18-6, 10-6 UFC) will make his debut against Werdum, who recently dropped a split decision to Aleksei Oleinik in his own return after a USADA suspension. Werdum is currently ranked at 14, so Gustafsson would likely enter the heavyweight rankings immediately with a win. But he’s not getting ahead of himself.
“At the moment the only thing I have on my mind is to win one fight at a time and see where that takes me. I want to get a streak going with some wins under my belt and then take it from there. If it feels good there won’t really be any reason for me to move back down to light heavyweight.”
The fight will go down on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi at UFC Fight Night 170, which is likely to be headlined by a middleweight bout between Robert Whittaker and Darren Till.