(Don’t feel bad, Jon. There are insane, misguided women who would pay a lot of money for lips like those. / Photo via Getty)
No, there won’t be an immediate rematch of 2013′s Fight of the Year. UFC president Dana White confirmed to ESPN yesterday that Jon Jones‘s next light-heavyweight title defense will come against Brazilian contender Glover Teixeira. “That’s what the champ wants,” White said. “We’ll probably have that fight on the Super Bowl card in New Jersey.”
With Super Bowl XLVIII scheduled for February 2nd in East Rutherford, the Jones vs. Teixeira bout would go down the night before on February 1st, as per UFC tradition. Though White didn’t name a venue, it seems likely that the fight would take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, where Jones originally won his title from Mauricio “Shogun” Rua back in March 2011, and made his fifth title defense against Chael Sonnen earlier this year. (Hey, remember when we thought this event might happen at Madison Square Garden? That was pretty sweet. Let’s cross our fingers for 2015, guys.)
Undefeated for eight years and carrying a perfect 5-0 record in the UFC, Teixeira is clearly next in line on the light-heavyweight title ladder. The 33-year-old most recently TKO’d Ryan Bader in just under three minutes at UFC Fight Night 28, overwhelming Bader with strikes after being briefly staggered by the TUF 8 winner.
So where does this leave Alexander Gustafsson? Funny you should ask. Dana White also confirmed that The Mauler’s return fight will take place back in his home country. “Around the same time of the Jones-Teixeira fight, Gustafsson will fight in Sweden,” White told ESPN. “I don’t have an official date for that yet.”
We previously suggested that Gustafsson take on Lil’ Nog for his next outing, although Gustafsson also has some unfinished business with Gegard Mousasi. The two fighters were supposed to face off in the main event of UFC on FUEL 9 in Stockholm, but Gustafsson had to withdraw at the last minute due to a cut suffered in training. Who would you like to see for Gustafsson’s rebound opponent? And can Glover Teixeira give Jon Jones as tough a fight as Gus did?