“I’m just going to make sure I win every (expletive) round there is, just put a beating on him.”
The last time Alexander Gustafsson put a beating on someone was in May 2017, when he battered Glover Teixeira enroute to a fifth-round KO victory at UFC Fight Night 109 in his hometown of Stockholm, Sweden.
Gustafsson will look to mirror that performance when he returns to Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe Arena this weekend to take on Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith in the UFC Fight Night 153 main event.
Speaking to MMA Junkie’s John Morgan in a recent interview, a ‘super relaxed’ Gustafsson said he looks forward to putting a beating on Smith this Saturday.
“I feel super calm,” Gustafsson said. “I’ve got a great flow going now in my training. My conditioning is on top. I’m just feeling so relaxed. I’m ready for it. This is my reward. I don’t care about anything else. It’s just to be able to be in the octagon, fighting the guy in front of me, that is a reward for me – and just having fun doing it with a smile on my face.
“I’m just going to make sure I win every (expletive) round there is, just put a beating on him.”
Gustafsson will also look to spring back from his loss to Jon Jones, but the Swede isn’t thinking about another rematch with the reigning light heavyweight champion — at least not right now.
“I’m not even thinking about Jon or the title or any of that anymore,” he said. “It’s been too much and too long in my head. I just don’t really care anymore. I just take one fight at a time and just get back to it.
“I want to stack up my wins again. I want to beat the best guys. Of course I want to beat the top guys, too. I tried. I just have to go back to where I started and take one fight at a time, try to be a better fighter, be a better competitor and take one fight at a time, and win every fight, and stack them up, and let’s see what the future brings. My motivation right now is to support my family and have fun doing what I love to do.”
UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Smith takes place Saturday, June 1 at Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.