It took Jon Jones just four-and-a-half minutes to dismantle light heavyweight championship contender Chael Sonnen at UFC 159.
Even though Sonnen decided to take the fight to the champ, and for a minute it looked like the strategy could go either way, Jones beat Sonnen at his own game and won an emphatic TKO victory in the first round.
For the incumbent champion, that was his fifth title defence, equalling the record set by UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz. But while Ortiz’s conquests number forgettable matchups against men such as Yuki Kondo, Elvis Sinosic and Vladimir Matyushenko, Jones has been defending his belt against studs.
Men such as Shogun Rua, Rashad Evans, Quentin Jackson, Lyoto Machida: all former champions and none of them a match for the 25-year-old New York native.
In a short five-year career as a pro, Jones has virtually cleared out the 205-pound division in the most highly regarded MMA promotion in the world.
As things stand, the UFC is struggling to find a worthy contender for the light heavyweight belt, and there aren’t many men calling the champion out.
Machida, who won a lacklustre split-decision win over Dan Henderson earlier this year at UFC 157, has already fought and lost to Jones, and there aren’t many people eager to see that rematch.
Daniel Cormier also recently won his UFC debut, a heavyweight fight against Frank Mir, and there’s been talk of him dropping down to 205 to face Jones. But we don’t even know if that’s possible for Cormier yet, who’s previously had severe kidney issues attempting to fight at lower weight divisions.
As for up-and-coming stars, men like Phil Davis who was once talked of as potential Jones beaters, and who also won Saturday night, have been reluctant to call the champion out. He told the UFC 159 post-fight press conference that he would like to “get back in the mix” for the contendership but was reluctant to call out Jones directly.
One man who hasn’t thought twice about calling out Jones is rising Swedish MMA star Alexander Gustafsson.
Gustafsson promised that he would ask for Jones if he had won his last scheduled fight against Gegard Mousasi in the main event of UFC on Fuel 9. Unfortunately, an injury saw him sidelined from that fight, and he has since made his case by gunning for the current No.1 contender, Machida, or to serve as an injury replacement for a subsequent Jones title fight.
The Swede can stop his campaigning. Jones has asked for that fight himself and there’s every chance the UFC will want to make it.
Gustafsson, only a year older than Jones, has had a similarly remarkable career—having risen in an incredible short space of time to become a top-five UFC light heavyweight.
His recent wins over Rua and Thiago Silva have cemented his status and he would, indeed, be an intriguing matchup for Jones.
As Jones himself laments, many have attributed his success to his physical build—his long arms and that reach considered the biggest in the entire UFC. But that advantage would be essentially negated by Gustafsson, who himself stands at 6’5″.
Perhaps, aside from Jones himself, no one has been more effective in utilising that reach to develop a rangy style of fighting that opponents find impossible to deal with quite like Gustafsson.
Of course, Gustafsson is more than that. However, with uncertainty hanging over Cormier, and the paucity of talent left to challenge Jones, it’s time for Gustafsson to step up to the plate.
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