No. 2-ranked UFC light heavyweight contender Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson has fought for the UFC 205-pound strap twice, first at UFC at UFC 165 in 2013 against Jon Jones and second at UFC 192 against Daniel Cormier. In both fights, Gustafsson pushed his opponents to their limits, but he ultimately came up short on both
No. 2-ranked UFC light heavyweight contender Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson has fought for the UFC 205-pound strap twice, first at UFC at UFC 165 in 2013 against Jon Jones and second at UFC 192 against Daniel Cormier. In both fights, Gustafsson pushed his opponents to their limits, but he ultimately came up short on both occasions.
Prior to his split-decision loss to Cormier, “The Mauler” was steamrolled by No. 1-ranked Anthony Johnson in his home of Sweden which was unsurprisingly a tough loss to swallow. In fact, he was questioning his fighting future in the aftermath of the bout.
After 11 months away from the cage, Gustafsson is scheduled to return against Jan Blachowicz at tomorrow’s (Sat., September 3, 2016) UFC Fight Night 93 from Hamburg, Germany, and he claims that he never lost motivation in his craft:
“I never lost my motivation,” Gustafsson (16-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) told MMAjunkie on Thursday. “I don’t know why people are telling me that – like, oh, he’s going to quit.
“I just had two losses. I lost my fight just on the finish line with (Cormier). People cry. It’s a good blow, and it hits you hard, and people don’t understand the feeling or the thoughts you have in your mind when you’re training so hard for something and you lose it just on very small details. People don’t understand that.”
While he did admit that his motivation may have received a setback, “The Mauler” confirmed that fighting is his true passion:
“You say stuff, and people (say), ‘Oh, he’s going to quit.’ No,” Gustaffson said. “You don’t get it, man. You haven’t been in those shoes; you have no idea how it feels. So for me, of course, motivation gets a setback. But this is what I love to do.”
This summer has been bittersweet for Canadian music fans. Yes, that’s an odd place to start in discussing a Swedish mixed martial artist, but give it a second.
One of the greatest rock bands the country has known, The Tragically Hip, completed it…
This summer has been bittersweet for Canadian music fans. Yes, that’s an odd place to start in discussing a Swedish mixed martial artist, but give it a second.
One of the greatest rock bands the country has known, The Tragically Hip, completed its final tour after lead singer and Canadian icon GordDownie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer earlier in the year.
The band is known for insightful lyrics and songs that center around social issues, history and other ideas that are not always a first focus for musicians. One such song, Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park, is an ode to a bear living in captivity and a commentary on the concerns such treatment of animals creates.
“What’s troubling Gus?” Downie crows repeatedly, offering interruptions of constant conversations, lack of fear the bear instills in people as he’s held captive, or the struggle he has between his new life and his biological urge to hunt and kill as possible sources along the way.
It’s perhaps a little corny and may not be a story that everyone is interested in, but it’s a lyric that sticks with anyone who hears it.
Now in 2016, 12 years after that lyric was first heard and three years after Gus the Polar Bear passed away at the Central Park Zoo, MMA fans have reason to revive it because Alexander Gustafsson has been troubled in his own way, and everyone is wondering what the cause might be.
Since his epic title war with Jon Jones at UFC 165, Gustafsson has only fought three times. He holds a win over an overmatched JimiManuwa and a pair of losses—one in devastating fashion to Anthony Johnson, another in a title fight with Daniel Cormier that he was inexplicably gifted after losing to Johnson.
He’s fought well at times, if unspectacularly, producing his best work in the Cormier fight while remaining unable to get over the hump and become champion. This weekend he’ll throw hands in Germany on a Fight Pass card that most people forgot was even happening, and many more probably didn’t even know he was scheduled for.
It’s a significant drop in status for Sweden’s top MMA product, who should be entering his prime and finding more success with his rangy boxing and vastly improved wrestling. He isn’t though, instead alternating between big fights with bad results and beating up veritable scrubs just to keep his name out there to some extent.
So what’s troubling Gus?
Probably a few things, actually.
The Jones fight was among the wildest tilts the sport has ever seen, and it’s not outrageous to suggest Gustafsson may have needed the better part of a year just to get himself right afterwards. It happens routinely to athletes that they need a long recovery after a fight takes a part of them—Rory MacDonald in his loss to Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit in his are good recent examples of the trend.
The Johnson loss happened in Sweden at the second stadium show the UFC had ever done, where 40,000 of Gustafsson’s countrymen saw him get totally romped after he was positioned as a conquering hero returning home. It was bad enough that he openly considered retirement afterwards, which says it all.
The Cormier fight was somewhere in between, and though the shot itself wasn’t deserved on merit, Gustafsson showed up and fought like a man possessed when he got it. It wasn’t the chaotic brawl that the Jones bout was, and the loss wasn’t as explosive as the Johnson outcome, but it was still the exact type of occurrence that could make a man wonder if he’s still cut out for his chosen line of work.
Now with these troubles having spanned across three years, Gustafsson will look to get on some sort of permanent track back to relevance when he meets unranked Jan Blachowicz. He’s a talented man who’s run afoul of some more talented men in recent fights, and it’s left him treading water as something of a forgotten contender as a result.
So the answer to what’s troubling Gus? Well it just so happens that the answer applied to both the polar bear and the mixed martial artist. Says Downie:
Is that what’s troubling you, Gus? The mere mention of the name Used to be enough to make every bird stop singing. Is that what’s troubling you, Gus? No one is afraid.
Gus the Polar Bear is beyond saving, but the right showing from Alexander Gustafsson this weekend will make people afraid once again. That would be a pretty good place for him to start.
Felipe Silva def. Shane Campbell, TKO (Round 1, 1:13)
Prelims on UFC Fight Pass
Chad Laprise def. Thibault Gouti, TKO (Round 1, 1:36)
Jeremy Kennedy def. Alex Ricci, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Next up? UFC Fight Night 93.
The UFC’s abandonment of Fox Sports 1 and bolstering of Fight Pass continues! While FS1’s Fight Night cards have largely featured exciting-yet-unknown up-and-comers, Fight Pass Fight Night events have been featuring established names. This one is no different.
Andrei Arlovski. Josh Barnett. Alexander Gustafsson. Ryan Bader.
While much of the card features the usual mashup of local (well, European) talent, there are plenty of relevant names to tune in for, and plenty of relevant names that have burning questions to discuss.
While many in the MMA community have chimed in on Jon Jones’ ongoing USADA issues, which resulted in his being pulled from the main event of arguably the biggest UFC event in history, one person fans have yet to hear from is the guy who gave “Bones” hi…
While many in the MMA community have chimed in on Jon Jones’ ongoing USADA issues, which resulted in his being pulled from the main event of arguably the biggest UFC event in history, one person fans have yet to hear from is the guy who gave “Bones” his toughest test to date, Alexander Gustafsson.
Jim Edwards of FloCombat recently caught up with the UFC’s biggest Swedish superstar this week, who spoke out about Jones’ ongoing USADA issues.
“I think he is one of the best fighters in the world, but ‘Greatest Of All Time?’, no not for me. There have been, and still are, so many good fighters and I think Jones still has more to prove, especially now after what has happened,” said Gus.
While Gustafsson will wait to see how things unfold with the Jones case, he does feel this situation could have some big ramifications.
“Obviously, I think that if it’s proven that he has been cheating, he should definitely be suspended. The sad thing for me is that if he does have to sit out two years, then I’m not sure if he will ever be able to come back?
“Even if he does come back, he will never be able to erase the ‘cheater stamp’. Once you are caught, you can never wash that away.”
As the talk of the topic winded down, Gus also pointed out how it doesn’t matter if Jones was “juicing” when they fought in the past, as he still feels he won that fight.
“Whether he was juicing or not when we fought it doesn’t matter. I believe I won that fight and if we meet again, I know I will beat him again.”
The UFC light heavyweight title that Daniel Cormier wears strapped across his waist will be on the line, when he meets his longtime rival Jon Jones in the main even of UFC 200 this July. Jones has been the biggest hurdle in the former Olympian’s mixed martial arts (MMA) career, as the only blemish on
The UFC light heavyweight title that Daniel Cormier wears strapped across his waist will be on the line, when he meets his longtime rival Jon Jones in the main even of UFC 200 this July.
Jones has been the biggest hurdle in the former Olympian’s mixed martial arts (MMA) career, as the only blemish on his record comes at the hands of ‘Bones’ following their initial meeting at UFC 182.
While the two men obviously have a tendency to get under one another’s skin, the former 205-pound king Jones recently reveled to FOX Sports that ‘DC’ actually isn’t the biggest rival he’s come across throughout his impressive career:
“I think the performance I’m most happy with is when I beat Rashad Evans,” Jones said. “Rashad Evans was a guy who knew me personally, trained with me, and I think he was 15-1 when we fought.
He had only ever lost to Lyoto Machida. He was a winner. He knocked out Chuck Liddell. He was just a bad ass. I loved that I made that fight look one-sided — that’s the fight I’m most proud of.
That rivalry was almost equal to Daniel Cormier, actually a bit more personal. The beef was more real. Daniel Cormier, our beef is childish.”
Jones also claimed that Cormier isn’t even the toughest fight he’s had in his eight-year UFC career, but rather the man who took him into deep waters at UFC 165, Alexander Gustafsson:
“When it comes to my actual toughest fight, it was Alexander Gustafsson. Gustafsson dazed me at one point in the fight. He had me bleeding, he actually made me go to the hospital after the fight,” Jones said.
“Daniel Cormier, his fight to me was no tougher than the Glover Teixeira fight. First three rounds were competitive, and then after that I ran away with the victory.
Daniel, he really isn’t my biggest challenge, or I don’t think he’ll be my threat anyway. He’s just part of the journey,” Jones said. “I’m excited to out there and beat him again. Get rid of him once and for all.”
Jones and Cormier are set to square off in the main event of UFC 200 live on pay-per-view (PPV), in the T-Mobile Arena on July 9, 2016.
Throughout his amazingly dominant career, UFC interim light heavyweight champion Jone Jones has ruled the UFC’s 205-pound division since he first made the walk to the Octagon, as his opponents have been forced to deal with his combination of a freakish athletic physique and explosive unorthodox striking. Much talk has been thrown around throughout Jones’
Throughout his amazingly dominant career, UFC interim light heavyweight champion Jone Jones has ruled the UFC’s 205-pound division since he first made the walk to the Octagon, as his opponents have been forced to deal with his combination of a freakish athletic physique and explosive unorthodox striking.
Much talk has been thrown around throughout Jones’ career about a possible jump up to the thunderous heavyweight division, but in a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Jones stated he’s starting not to like that idea as much as he once did:
“To be honest with you, heavyweight really doesn’t really seem as appealing to me as it once did,” Jones said.
“I’m almost 30 now, and I’m not really having any more growth spurts,” Jones said. “This is pretty much the size I’m going to be, and it’s so easy for me to make light heavyweight.
As I get older, and as I mature and take things more seriously – you know, diet and everything – it’s become easier for me to maintain, and I’ve never missed weight.”
Jones’ sudden change of heart most likely has to do with the fact that the Jackson-Wink product feels like he has some unfinished business in the 205-pound division:
“I would love to rematch Gustafsson at some point,” Jones said. “Anthony Johnson is obviously a fight that I need to get out of the way.
Beating Daniel Cormier again is huge for my legacy. But really, just those three names, Cormier, Gustafsson and Johnson, are the guys I want to fight again the most, and that’s it. That’s as far as my eyes can see right now.”
While Jones isn’t completely ruling out a jump to the heavyweight division, he’s more than content to finish out his career in the light heavyweight division he’s ruled for nearly eight years:
“The only way I will go up to heavyweight, it will really have to be stylistically the right fight for me, and the numbers will have to make sense,” Jones said. “Or, obviously, just fighting the right champion for that opportunity to go straight for the title.
“Move up and finish my career there? I don’t see a point when I’m doing so well where I’m at.”
Jones will meet Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 200 live on pay-per-view (PPV), from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 9, 2016.
This summer has been bittersweet for Canadian music fans. Yes, that’s an odd place to start in discussing a Swedish mixed martial artist, but give it a second.