Daniel Cormier Urges Alexander Gustafsson To Retire After UFC London KO Loss: “The Chin Is Gone, Walk Away”

Daniel Cormier, Alexander GustafssonDaniel Cormier has urged Alexander Gustafsson to hang up the gloves after his latest loss. This past Saturday, Gustafsson marked his return to action after a two-year hiatus against Nikita Krylov at UFC London. The O2 Arena didn’t get to see much of “The Mauler” inside the octagon as he got knocked out by Krylov […]

Daniel Cormier, Alexander Gustafsson

Daniel Cormier has urged Alexander Gustafsson to hang up the gloves after his latest loss.

This past Saturday, Gustafsson marked his return to action after a two-year hiatus against Nikita Krylov at UFC London. The O2 Arena didn’t get to see much of “The Mauler” inside the octagon as he got knocked out by Krylov in under 70 seconds.

Daniel Cormier urges Alexander Gustafsson to retire after UFC London KO loss

Former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier took to Twitter to tell Gustafsson that it’s time to “walk away.”

“Gustafson is done. He needs to walk away, these shots are hard but he used to eat those. The chin is gone, walk away my friend. We all have expiration date. One of the best to not have had a title.”

Gustafsson has retired in the past

Cormier has experience competing with Gustafsson inside the cage. He narrowly managed to hold onto his light heavyweight strap with a split decision victory over the 35-year-old Swede at UFC 192 in Oct. 2015.

Gustafsson spent the majority of his career fighting at 205 lb and is a former three-time title challenger. He is widely regarded as one of the best mixed martial artists to never have won a UFC belt, a sentiment Cormier echoed as well in his message.

In his last ten, Gustafsson has only managed three wins from Sep. 2013. He has now dropped all four of his most recent outings with all of the defeats coming by a finish, either a knockout or submission.

Following a loss to Anthony Smith at a UFC Fight Night card in his homeland of Stockholm in Jun. 2019, Gustafsson indicated that he’d be hanging up the gloves only to return a year later against Fabricio Werdum. It’s unclear if his loss at UFC London will prompt him to retire from the sport or what he might be looking to achieve if he stays in it.

Nikita Krylov Flattens Alexander Gustafsson With Early KO Win – UFC London Highlights

Nikita KrylovPutting woes from March firmly behind him, Nikita Krylov lands arguably the biggest victory of his UFC tenure to date — steamrolling through multiple time title challenger, Alexander Gustafsson in just over a minute, to land a first round knockout on the main card of UFC London. Krylov, a two-time feature in the UFC during […]

Nikita Krylov

Putting woes from March firmly behind him, Nikita Krylov lands arguably the biggest victory of his UFC tenure to date — steamrolling through multiple time title challenger, Alexander Gustafsson in just over a minute, to land a first round knockout on the main card of UFC London.

Krylov, a two-time feature in the UFC during his professional career, landed the Fight Nights Global light heavyweight crown during his time away from the promotion, however, tonight’s win over Sweden favorite, Gustafsson comes as arguably his most impressive win.

Dropping Gustafsson inside 15 seconds of the first round, Krylov landed cleanly with an overhand right, before wobbling the veteran further on the feet.

Again hurting and dropping Gustafsson, Krylov managed to eventually get the job done as referee, Marc Goddard intervened, landing Krylov a first round knockout win.

Below, catch the highlights from Nikita Krylov’s first round KO win against Alexander Gustafsson

VIDEO: Jiri Prochazka Gets A Champions Welcome Back Home After Defeating Glover Teixeira At UFC 275

Jiri ProchazkaJiri Prochazka caught Glover Teixeira in a submission in the fifth round of their championship bout, after being down on most judges scorecard. He was welcomed back to his home country of the Czech Republic with a parade in his honor. Prochazka and Teixiera’s fight was quite possibly the greatest Light Heavyweight championship fight of […]

Jiri Prochazka

Jiri Prochazka caught Glover Teixeira in a submission in the fifth round of their championship bout, after being down on most judges scorecard. He was welcomed back to his home country of the Czech Republic with a parade in his honor.

Prochazka and Teixiera’s fight was quite possibly the greatest Light Heavyweight championship fight of all time. It is up there with Jon Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson, in terms of how entertaining of a fight it was. Prohcazka pulled the win out of nowhere, when it looked like he was either going to be finished, or was well on his way to losing the fight on the cards.

Teixieria fought a great fight as well, so an immediate rematch could possibly be in the cards for him. He has even already started campaigning for a rematch, by asking Prochazka and the organization to run it back.

Jiri Prochazka became the first Czech UFC champion ever and was greeted with a huge parade in is honor as a welcoming gift

The parade has so many people in it to greet the new champion, and it stretched far down the street it was on.

Prochazka became the fastest fighter to win the Light Heavyweight championship since Quentin ‘Rampage’ Jackson did it back in 2007. Prochazka captured the title in only his third fight in the UFC and won it at the young age of 29. Prochazka made sure to wait until he felt he was 100% ready for the UFC, to make his debut. The waiting looked to have paid off, as he ascended the division very quickly.

It truly was a story of the youth, overtaking the old. Teixiera had become the oldest fighter to win the championship for the first time when he beat Jan Blachowicz in late 2021. He won it at the age of 42.

Report | Alexander Gustafsson vs. Nikita Krylov Slated For UFC Event On July 23.

Alexander GustafssonA light heavyweight matchup between three-time division title challenger, Alexander Gustafsson, and the #11 ranked division contender, Nikita Krylov has been added to a UFC Fight Night event on July 23. At the time of publication, an official location or venue for the showcase has yet to be determined by the promotion, however, discussions for […]

Alexander Gustafsson

A light heavyweight matchup between three-time division title challenger, Alexander Gustafsson, and the #11 ranked division contender, Nikita Krylov has been added to a UFC Fight Night event on July 23. At the time of publication, an official location or venue for the showcase has yet to be determined by the promotion, however, discussions for the event to be held in London, England have taken place.

Sidelined since a brief heavyweight excursion at UFC Fight Island 3 in July 2020, Swedish veteran, Alexander Gustafsson made his Octagon return in a rather one-sided first round armbar loss to former undisputed heavyweight champion, Fabricio Werdum.

For Krylov, the Luhansk-born contender featured most recently at UFC London at The O2 Arena in March, suffering a first round rallying submission loss against surging Scottish submission specialist, Paul Craig. Swedish outlet, FrontKick MMA was first to report the news of Gustafsson’s booking against Krylov.

Without a victory in his last three consecutive Octagon appearances, Arboga veteran, Alexander Gustafsson was slated to tackle the aforenoted, Craig at UFC Vegas 36 last September until an undisclosed injury forced him from the outing.

Alexander Gustafsson has challenged Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier for light heavyweight gold

Gustafsson was since slated to meet with Ben Rothwell at a UFC Fight Night event in May, until the latter was removed from the event and subsequently handed his release from the organization before penning a deal with BKFC.

18-7 as a professional, Gustafsson’s most recent professional victory came in the form of a UFC Fight Night Stockholm maine event outing against current undisputed light heavyweight champion, Glover Teixeira – stopping the Brazilian with a May 2017 highlight-reel knockout win. 

In the midst of his second tenure with the UFC, former Fight Nights Global light heavyweight champion, Krylov has since embarked on a six-fight run with the organization since his second stint began.

Establishing a 2-4 promotional record, Krylov returned with a pair of victories against both upcoming UFC 274 feature, Ovince Saint Preux, and in his last professional triumph, defeated Brazilian contender, Johnny Walker in a hostile territory unanimous decision win in March 2020.

Alexander Gustafsson vs. Nikita Krylov Targeted For July 23 UFC Event

A light heavyweight fight between European veterans Alexander Gustafsson and Nikita Krylov is reportedly in the works for this summer. The bout, which was first reported by Swedish MMA outlet Frontkick.online, is being targeted for the UFC’s July 23 event, which is expected to be a Fight Night card. When they collide, Sweden’s Gustafsson will…

Continue Reading Alexander Gustafsson vs. Nikita Krylov Targeted For July 23 UFC Event at MMA News.

A light heavyweight fight between European veterans Alexander Gustafsson and Nikita Krylov is reportedly in the works for this summer.

The bout, which was first reported by Swedish MMA outlet Frontkick.online, is being targeted for the UFC’s July 23 event, which is expected to be a Fight Night card. When they collide, Sweden’s Gustafsson will be looking to take the #11 ranking of Ukraine’s Krylov.

The event is expected to mark the promotion’s second visit to the UK this year. After the success of UFC London last month, the MMA leader is targeting another trip to England’s capital on July 23.

Gustafsson (18-7), a former three-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger, is widely considered a pioneer of European MMA. However, “The Mauler,” who boasts a place in the UFC Hall of Fame Fight Wing, has struggled for form as of late.

The Swede hasn’t been in action since a failed venture to heavyweight saw Fabrício Werdum add a third straight defeat to Gustafsson’s losing skid. The setback followed back-to-back losses to Jon Jones and Anthony Smith at 205 pounds.

The 35-year-old was initially scheduled to test the waters at heavyweight once more against Ben Rothwell next month. However, “Big Ben” recently exited the promotion and signed a deal with BKFC, leaving Gustafsson in need of a new opponent. As it turns out, his next rival will be a 205lber.

Like Gustafsson, Krylov (27-9) will be looking to rebound from a losing run. And should the event be confirmed for London, the Ukrainian will have redemption on his mind following his defeat to Paul Craig in the city last month. Despite appearing close to a finish with some brutal ground-and-pound, “The Minor” became the latest victim of the Scot’s lethal submission game.

Having lost consecutive outings against Craig and Magomed Ankalaev, and slipped outside the divisional top 10, Krylov will hope to use the established name of Gustafasson to thrust himself back into contention on July 23.

The current fights expected to take place on this card are as follows:

Alexander Gustafsson vs. Nikita Krylov (light heavyweight)

Muhammad Mokaev vs. Charles Johnson (flyweight)

According to reports, Tom Aspinall is being targeted as the event’s headliner, while UK names like Molly McCann and Nathaniel Wood have also teased returns to to the Octagon in July.

Who do you think will have their hand raised in this one, Alexander Gustafsson or Nikita Krylov?

Continue Reading Alexander Gustafsson vs. Nikita Krylov Targeted For July 23 UFC Event at MMA News.

Alexander Gustafsson Using Glover Teixeira As Inspiration For Return

Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson is using Glover Teixeira as inspiration for his return at heavyweight. Gustafsson is set to face Ben Rothwell at a May 21 Fight Night event. He’s looking to get back in the win column after he announced his retirement following a loss to Fabricio Werdum in July…

Continue Reading Alexander Gustafsson Using Glover Teixeira As Inspiration For Return at MMA News.

Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson is using Glover Teixeira as inspiration for his return at heavyweight.

Gustafsson is set to face Ben Rothwell at a May 21 Fight Night event. He’s looking to get back in the win column after he announced his retirement following a loss to Fabricio Werdum in July 2020.

Gustafsson is seeking vengeance at heavyweight and is looking to attempt one last potential title run before his career comes to a close. Teixeira, at 42 years old, showed that age may be just a number after he defeated Jan Blachowicz for the 205-pound belt at UFC 267.

During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Gustafsson reacted to his old rival Teixeira becoming a UFC champion.

“It’s amazing to see,” Gustafsson said of Teixeira earning a UFC title. “He’s a tough dude, man, a really tough dude. It’s very impressive. I saw the fight with [Jan Blachowicz] and he was very impressive, he’s a beast. It wasn’t only me [who beat him], he got a pretty tough beating against Jon Jones and a couple of other guys, and he just comes back. He just goes one direction, he doesn’t care. It’s impressive to see and now he has the belt. All respect to him.

“How old is he, 40? 41? It’s amazing to see. He’s a lot of inspiration for me to see him succeed, it’s crazy to see.”

Teixeira is set to make his first title defense as the champion against Ji?í Procházka at UFC 274. He has won six-straight bouts and 7 of his last 8 since falling to Gustafsson in 2017.

Teixeira’s win over Blachowicz was one of the most shocking moments in the UFC in 2021. After watching Teixeira finally realize a championship dream, Gustafsson is looking to replicate his success and potentially earn a title at heavyweight.

What are your predictions for Glover Teixeira and Alexander Gustafsson in 2022?

Continue Reading Alexander Gustafsson Using Glover Teixeira As Inspiration For Return at MMA News.