Anthony “Rumble” Johnson is not happy about Alexander Gustafsson‘s recent sentiments.
Speaking with Swedish MMA (quotes relayed by MMA Fighting’s David St. Martin), Gustafsson shed his feelings on his UFC on Fox 14 loss to Johnson, and his words were none too complimentary of the night’s victor.
“I win over Anthony Johnson six out of seven days,” Gustafsson said. “But, the only thing that wasn’t supposed to happen, happened. One day you are on the top, the other day you’re on the bottom. That’s how it works.”
Rumble isn’t happy about this. He emphatically finished the Swede in his home country, and rather than gloating or hamming up the spotlight, Johnson remained cool, collected and complimentary post-fight.
“I mean, I felt bad for him,” Johnson told MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on a past episode of The MMA Hour (h/t MMA Mania‘s Adam Guillen Jr. for the transcription). “So, when he was crying, that’s what was going through my head, like, damn, his dreams just got shot to hell. He’s the only guy I’ve ever felt like that for.”
In the wake of Gustafsson‘s recent statement, though, Johnson is opening up. He doesn’t feel bad for the former light heavyweight title contender anymore, and he let the world know with this post to Instagram:
Presently, Johnson is scheduled to challenge for Jon “Bones” Jones’ light heavyweight title at UFC 187 on May 23. His loss to Gustafsson is firmly in the past and he’s on to better things, but there’s no denying the fact that Gustafsson‘s statement that he’d defeated Rumble “six out of seven times” did not sit well.
Personally, it’s hard to blame Rumble. He was nothing but respectful toward Gustafsson after his massive upset victory in Sweden, and he was classy in every post-fight interview he fielded. He kept the win in perspective and showed sympathy for Gustafsson‘s situation, something we don’t see all that often in MMA.
Now, however, those feelings seem to be eroding a touch, and a rematch between the two is suddenly interesting moving forward in 2015.
Should Johnson defeat Jones at UFC 187 and Gustafsson defeat Glover Teixeira on June 20, we might just see it before the end of the year.
Who would you take in a rematch? Is Gustafsson correct in saying he’d win six out of seven times, or is he diminishing Johnson’s skill set?
Sound off, and we’ll discuss this potential rematch.
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