Jon Jones had the fight of his life at UFC 165 back in September of 2013.
“Bones” successfully defended his then-held light heavyweight title against Alexander Gustafsson via unanimous decision. But it wasn’t pretty.
The Swede brought the fight to Jones unlike anyone before. The fact that “The Mauler” could match Jones in size, something no one else had or has done since was especially helpful. The fight was so close, in fact, that many believe Gustafsson should’ve won the bout. However, Jones retained his title and was victorious.
Talk of a rematch immediately after swirled, but unfortunately, nothing was able to get done. Until now.
Jones and Gustafsson will headline December 29’s UFC 232 for the light heavyweight title. Daniel Cormier currently reigns as the 205-pound champion but will be stripped as soon as the fight begins. Jones is an extremely talented mixed martial artist, and what makes things even crazier about him is he apparently defeated Gustafsson coming off a training camp he didn’t take too seriously.
His coach, Mike Winkeljohn, spoke to “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” recently and confirmed this. Winkeljohn revealed that Jones “definitely didn’t train hard” for the fight (via Sherdog):
“Oh yeah, there’s no doubt about it. You know what, Jon won the last fight [and] he definitely didn’t train hard for that fight. His mind was elsewhere, I think he took it a little light. Kinda real fascinating how stupid that was because Gustafsson can fight.”
The famous coach admitted Gustafsson is indeed a challenge and they want to make it easier the second time around. He believed it would be a war the first time:
“He’s the real deal and definitely a different look for Jon with his height. This time we’re gonna try to make it a lot easier. I wasn’t doubting he’d beat him, but I knew we were gonna be in for a war.”
Despite that feeling, Winkeljohn ultimately believed in Jones’ ability to overcome adversity, which he did:
“I’m always a believer in Jon Jones’ heart and ability to figure sh*t out and come out on top. I figured it was gonna be one of those rough ones and it was, there’s no doubt about it.
“It was just we had to find a way as a team to help him conserve his energy here and there because he wasn’t in quite the shape he should’ve been in, which played out huge throughout the fight.”
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