Tag: UFC 192

Alexander Gustafsson Reacts To Jon Jones Trolling Him

In the time after his impressive fifth-round stoppage over Glover Teixeira in the main event of last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 109 from Stockholm, top-ranked UFC light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson made it clear that he didn’t like Jon Jones as a person even if he was the greatest fighter in MMA history. Late yesterday, the […]

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In the time after his impressive fifth-round stoppage over Glover Teixeira in the main event of last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 109 from Stockholm, top-ranked UFC light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson made it clear that he didn’t like Jon Jones as a person even if he was the greatest fighter in MMA history.

Late yesterday, the still-suspended pound-for-pound king responded to “The Mauler’s” drubbing by going off in a brutal Twitter rant. A few hours after that, Gustafsson reacted to “Bones” online assault with a few responses of his own. First, he said that although he roots for Daniel Cormier, he hopes Jones wins at UFC 214, and would pray for the former champ after he beat him:

The barb was calm enough, yet Gustafsson took the trash talk to an all-new level in replying to “Bones”” suggestion that he lost to him at UFC 165 and Cormier at UFC 192 due to a lack of heart. Gustafsson thinks his loss to Jones came from another more nefarious aspect of the fight game – the fact that USADA wasn’t testing elite UFC athletes at the time:

road to the octagon
Photo by Tom Szczerbowski for USA TODAY Sports

The slick retort may be the usually reserved Gustafsson’s best-ever instance of smack talk, as the respectful fighter doesn’t normally build up his matches with pre-fight verbal assaults, choosing to let his hands and feet do the talking in the octagon. Jones expectedly denied that his razor-thin unanimous decision over “The Mauler” was due to any form of performance-enhancing substance, but with Jones suspended for just that, it’s hard to argue with the top contender’s insistence.

Then Jones appeared to be amusingly hurt by the whole conversation, even though he started the entire war of words himself. The oft-troubled champ evoked a rule they teach young school children to close the conversation in an unexpected way, saying he was done with “The Mauler” for now:

Jones’ knowing he was only done with Gustafsson for now may be a telling prediction, as it seems the Swedish star has done enough to get the next shot at the winner of “Bones’” rematch with arch rival Cormier at July 29’s UFC 214 from Anaheim.

But we all know Jones making it the cage has become anything but a certainty in recent years; in fact, the cold truth of the matter is we’re more likely to see another highly anticipated bout be canceled for one reason or another, be it injury to either man or continuing legal and drug test issues for Jones. The UFC could most definitely be in the realm of considering how many more chances they will give the decorated Jones, but with a disappointing lack of stars present for the promotion in 2017, they could attempt to book fights for the onetime-indestructible titleholder.

No one could blame them, of course, because Cormier vs. Jones II could easily be the highest-selling PPV event in the barren desert that the year has presented the promotion in terms of overall estimated buyrates. In a sport as volatile as MMA, that’s just the fight game.

The UFC could use Jones’ trouble-free return to face Cormier and then perhaps Gustafsson in what could legitimately turn out to be two of the bigger rematches in UFC history. Just don’t count on it.

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Free Fight: Relive Daniel Cormier vs. Alexander Gustafsson

With UFC 197 around the corner, the Zuffa-based company has slowly been hyping up its marketing strategy for the anticipated main event. The UFC has released a free fight on YouTube of Cormier’s successful title defense over Alexander Gustafsson at UFC…

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With UFC 197 around the corner, the Zuffa-based company has slowly been hyping up its marketing strategy for the anticipated main event. The UFC has released a free fight on YouTube of Cormier’s successful title defense over Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 192 in 2015.

It was a back-and-forth match as Cormier squeezed by the Swedish native by a split-decision victory. Both fighters would earn a “fight of the night” bonus for their entertaining bout. Alexander Gustafsson is still on the sidelines with an injury and Cormier will face Jon Jones on April 23rd in a highly-anticipated rematch. Watch the fight below!

Francisco Trevino Tests Positive for Marijuana Following Loss to Sage Northcutt at UFC 192


(^Trevino to the Fertittas, essentially.)

Francisco Trevino achieved a rare feat in his UFC 192 loss to Sage Northcutt: He failed, spectacularly. Not in his performance — a 57 second TKO loss and something I would never mock a guy for — but in the absolute lack of professionalism he displayed prior to, immediately after, and further after that performance.

First, Trevino showed up five pounds heavy to the weigh-ins. Then, he shoved Herb Dean (never shove Herb Dean). And now, he’s tested positive for marijuana. It’s the trifecta of self-destruction; the only way Trevino could have further ensured that he would be fired would have to grab the mic out of Joe Rogan’s hand and told everyone in the arena to go f*ck themselves.

Details after the jump. 

The post Francisco Trevino Tests Positive for Marijuana Following Loss to Sage Northcutt at UFC 192 appeared first on Cagepotato.


(^Trevino to the Fertittas, essentially.)

Francisco Trevino achieved a rare feat in his UFC 192 loss to Sage Northcutt: He failed, spectacularly. Not in his performance — a 57 second TKO loss and something I would never mock a guy for — but in the absolute lack of professionalism he displayed prior to, immediately after, and further after that performance.

First, Trevino showed up five pounds heavy to the weigh-ins. Then, he shoved Herb Dean (never shove Herb Dean). And now, he’s tested positive for marijuana. It’s the trifecta of self-destruction; the only way Trevino could have further ensured that he would be fired would have to grab the mic out of Joe Rogan’s hand and told everyone in the arena to go f*ck themselves.

Details after the jump. 

MMAFighting has the details:

According to documents obtained by MMA Fighting via a public records request to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Trevino failed a drug test for elevated THC-COOH levels at UFC 192 on Oct. 3 in Houston. Trevino had 69 ng/ml of marijuana metabolites in his system and the Texas threshold is 50 ng/ml.

Texas Combative Sports Program director Greg Alvarez confirmed that Trevino will be suspended 90 days for the positive result. After he gets put on suspension, an enforcement case will be open against him and the fine for that is up to $5,000 for first-timers, per Alvarez. Trevino already gave up 20 percent of his purse to Northcutt after missing weight by four pounds (160).

MMAFighting was also quick to point out that, had Trevino been competing Nevada when he was busted, his marijuana levels would have below the the 150ng/ml threshold which constitutes a penalty. Then he would have only been *double* fired.

In all seriousness, I’m having a hard time faulting Trevino for this. Showing up heavy and pushing Herb Dean, sure, but not for a barely existent marijuana level. Without falling back into the marijuana debate again, I’ll just say that 69 ng/ml seems like a pretty mild offense to incur a 90-day suspension, while at the same time admitting that Trevino really, really screwed the pooch on this one.

In semi-related news, the White House petition to lift Nick Diaz’s five-year ban has reached its goal of 100,000 signatures. The White House will now have to comment on his ban, which is perhaps the greatest thing to happen to this sport ever. 

The post Francisco Trevino Tests Positive for Marijuana Following Loss to Sage Northcutt at UFC 192 appeared first on Cagepotato.

Alexander Gustafsson: Plotting a Way Forward for LHW’s Perennial Runner-Up

For the second time in his career, Alexander Gustafsson on Saturday pushed the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion to the limit.
For the second time, he came away with nothing.
On this night it was Daniel Cormier who got more than he bargained for …

For the second time in his career, Alexander Gustafsson on Saturday pushed the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion to the limit.

For the second time, he came away with nothing.

On this night it was Daniel Cormier who got more than he bargained for from Gustafsson. The lanky Swede weathered the storm of a big takedown in the first round of their bout at UFC 192 and battled back to make things uncomfortably close by the time Cormier’s split-decision victory was announced 20-plus minutes later.

Gustafsson steered mostly clear of the champion’s vaunted wrestling skills for the remainder of the fight. He peppered Cormier with stiff jabs, bloodying him under the right eye and nearly knocking him out with a knee to the face near the end of the third. He suffered the abuse Cormier dished out in transition and in the clinch and kept coming back for more.

But when the fight was on the line during the final 10 minutes, Gustafsson came up shy. Cormier kept the accelerator pinned to the floor, and the challenger just couldn’t match him.

It was shades of what happened to Gustafsson against Jon Jones two years earlier.

In that fight—where Gustafsson came in as the heavy underdog—he surprised the greatest 205-pound champion in UFC history with a barrage of strikes over the first three rounds. He tipped the previously indomitable Jones so far off his game that the European striker became the first man ever to take him down inside the Octagon.

But with Jones’ title seemingly on the verge of slipping away, the champion rallied in the final rounds. He stung Gustafsson with spinning elbows, kicks and a series of hard knees to the chin. Gustafsson faded down the stretch and—though there were some who felt he still deserved to get the nod—Jones retained his belt via unanimous decision.

So, here we are: Gustafsson is 28 years old and though he’s still regarded as one of the very best light heavyweights in the world, he’s also just 1-3 in his last four bouts.

His only victory in that span is a second-round TKO over Jimi Manuwa, in a fight that aired exclusively on the UFC’s digital subscription service. Aside from Cormier and Jones, his other defeat was a crushing first-round knockout at the hands of Anthony Johnson in January.

Now, there’s a growing sense that we’ve already seen the best he has to offer.

Gustafsson’s career should be far from finished, but it’s starting to seem as though he occupies one of the most difficult positions in all of sports: the perennial runner-up. It might well be that he is good enough to beat almost anyone in the world, except the men who are the very best.

There’s no telling exactly how Gustafsson is feeling in the wake of his razor-close loss to Cormier, but we know he took the KO defeat by Johnson pretty hard. He even told Swedish newspaper Expressen that he contemplated retirement.

“It has definitely been my most difficult period in life so far,” Gustafsson said at the time, via MMAFighting.com. “I was completely serious about quitting MMA … I just took it too hard. I didn’t have the will to continue. I was really close to quitting.”

While the Cormier fight didn’t end as quickly or as violently for Gustafsson, it’s easy to imagine it being an even tougher pill to swallow. It could put him in the unenviable company of other great fighters like Joseph Benevidez, Urijah Faber and Ben Henderson—all of whom are locked out of title contention in their natural weight classes after multiple losses in championship fights.

But there are also a couple saving graces here for Gustafsson.

The way forward might not be as bleak as we assume.

For starters, even though he came out on the wrong end, the Cormier fight was a bit of a statement performance for Gustafsson. There were those who shortchanged his initial showing against Jones, calling it a fluke after reports emerged that the champion didn’t take his training camp as seriously as he could have.

We wondered, could the competitive nature of their fight have had more to do with Jones taking it lightly than Gustafsson really being that good?

Now we have our answer: Nope.

Turns out, Gustafsson really is that good.

Secondly, the fact the he has lost a pair of nail-biter title defenses to two different light heavyweight champions leaves Gustafsson with a few good options still on the board.

We all assume Jones will return to challenge Cormier over the belt Jones never really lost. If Jones wins that fight, it could put Gustafsson right back in the mix.

In fact, unless Bones suddenly decamps for the heavyweight division, there will likely be no better next opponent for him than Gustafsson. Their UFC 165 clash remains Jones’ toughest title defense to date and the fact many continue to believe Gustafsson should’ve won the decision sustains our interest in an eventual rematch.

If it comes down to a question of Gustafsson or somebody like Ryan Bader, it’s easy to imagine matchmakers giving the Swede his third championship fight.

In the meantime, Gustafsson probably just needs to get a single comeback win, preferably against someone who shapes up as a stiffer test than Manuwa.

The fighters Gustafsson has faced to date during his UFC career generally fall into two distinct camps: journeymen and the elite of the elite. At this point, we know he’s far better than than guys like Manuwa, a fading Shogun Rua and Thiago Silva. We also know he hasn’t been able to put it all together against Jones or Cormier.

There just hasn’t been a lot of middle ground.

At this point, it could be instructive to see him fight somebody like returning former champion Rashad Evans (who just lost to Bader on Saturday) or an up-and-comer like Ovince St. Preux.

If he can defeat either of those guys, it’ll underscore his position among the world’s elite light heavyweights and justify another bite at the championship apple.

And who knows, for Gustafsson maybe the third time will be the charm.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Alexander Gustafsson: Plotting a Way Forward for LHW’s Perennial Runner-Up

For the second time in his career, Alexander Gustafsson on Saturday pushed the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion to the limit.
For the second time, he came away with nothing.
On this night it was Daniel Cormier who got more than he bargained for …

For the second time in his career, Alexander Gustafsson on Saturday pushed the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion to the limit.

For the second time, he came away with nothing.

On this night it was Daniel Cormier who got more than he bargained for from Gustafsson. The lanky Swede weathered the storm of a big takedown in the first round of their bout at UFC 192 and battled back to make things uncomfortably close by the time Cormier’s split-decision victory was announced 20-plus minutes later.

Gustafsson steered mostly clear of the champion’s vaunted wrestling skills for the remainder of the fight. He peppered Cormier with stiff jabs, bloodying him under the right eye and nearly knocking him out with a knee to the face near the end of the third. He suffered the abuse Cormier dished out in transition and in the clinch and kept coming back for more.

But when the fight was on the line during the final 10 minutes, Gustafsson came up shy. Cormier kept the accelerator pinned to the floor, and the challenger just couldn’t match him.

It was shades of what happened to Gustafsson against Jon Jones two years earlier.

In that fight—where Gustafsson came in as the heavy underdog—he surprised the greatest 205-pound champion in UFC history with a barrage of strikes over the first three rounds. He tipped the previously indomitable Jones so far off his game that the European striker became the first man ever to take him down inside the Octagon.

But with Jones’ title seemingly on the verge of slipping away, the champion rallied in the final rounds. He stung Gustafsson with spinning elbows, kicks and a series of hard knees to the chin. Gustafsson faded down the stretch and—though there were some who felt he still deserved to get the nod—Jones retained his belt via unanimous decision.

So, here we are: Gustafsson is 28 years old and though he’s still regarded as one of the very best light heavyweights in the world, he’s also just 1-3 in his last four bouts.

His only victory in that span is a second-round TKO over Jimi Manuwa, in a fight that aired exclusively on the UFC’s digital subscription service. Aside from Cormier and Jones, his other defeat was a crushing first-round knockout at the hands of Anthony Johnson in January.

Now, there’s a growing sense that we’ve already seen the best he has to offer.

Gustafsson’s career should be far from finished, but it’s starting to seem as though he occupies one of the most difficult positions in all of sports: the perennial runner-up. It might well be that he is good enough to beat almost anyone in the world, except the men who are the very best.

There’s no telling exactly how Gustafsson is feeling in the wake of his razor-close loss to Cormier, but we know he took the KO defeat by Johnson pretty hard. He even told Swedish newspaper Expressen that he contemplated retirement.

“It has definitely been my most difficult period in life so far,” Gustafsson said at the time, via MMAFighting.com. “I was completely serious about quitting MMA … I just took it too hard. I didn’t have the will to continue. I was really close to quitting.”

While the Cormier fight didn’t end as quickly or as violently for Gustafsson, it’s easy to imagine it being an even tougher pill to swallow. It could put him in the unenviable company of other great fighters like Joseph Benevidez, Urijah Faber and Ben Henderson—all of whom are locked out of title contention in their natural weight classes after multiple losses in championship fights.

But there are also a couple saving graces here for Gustafsson.

The way forward might not be as bleak as we assume.

For starters, even though he came out on the wrong end, the Cormier fight was a bit of a statement performance for Gustafsson. There were those who shortchanged his initial showing against Jones, calling it a fluke after reports emerged that the champion didn’t take his training camp as seriously as he could have.

We wondered, could the competitive nature of their fight have had more to do with Jones taking it lightly than Gustafsson really being that good?

Now we have our answer: Nope.

Turns out, Gustafsson really is that good.

Secondly, the fact the he has lost a pair of nail-biter title defenses to two different light heavyweight champions leaves Gustafsson with a few good options still on the board.

We all assume Jones will return to challenge Cormier over the belt Jones never really lost. If Jones wins that fight, it could put Gustafsson right back in the mix.

In fact, unless Bones suddenly decamps for the heavyweight division, there will likely be no better next opponent for him than Gustafsson. Their UFC 165 clash remains Jones’ toughest title defense to date and the fact many continue to believe Gustafsson should’ve won the decision sustains our interest in an eventual rematch.

If it comes down to a question of Gustafsson or somebody like Ryan Bader, it’s easy to imagine matchmakers giving the Swede his third championship fight.

In the meantime, Gustafsson probably just needs to get a single comeback win, preferably against someone who shapes up as a stiffer test than Manuwa.

The fighters Gustafsson has faced to date during his UFC career generally fall into two distinct camps: journeymen and the elite of the elite. At this point, we know he’s far better than than guys like Manuwa, a fading Shogun Rua and Thiago Silva. We also know he hasn’t been able to put it all together against Jones or Cormier.

There just hasn’t been a lot of middle ground.

At this point, it could be instructive to see him fight somebody like returning former champion Rashad Evans (who just lost to Bader on Saturday) or an up-and-comer like Ovince St. Preux.

If he can defeat either of those guys, it’ll underscore his position among the world’s elite light heavyweights and justify another bite at the championship apple.

And who knows, for Gustafsson maybe the third time will be the charm.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Coming to Terms with Daniel Cormier’s UFC Title Reign in the Shadow of Jon Jones

When it was all over—when the fifth round ended and the judges declared Daniel Cormier the winner and he raised his hands in the air, half in triumph, half in relief—it was difficult to look at him with anything other than awe and admiratio…

When it was all over—when the fifth round ended and the judges declared Daniel Cormier the winner and he raised his hands in the air, half in triumph, half in relief—it was difficult to look at him with anything other than awe and admiration. Cormier had just punched and kicked, slammed and gutted his way through 25 savage minutes of the UFC 192 main event. His head was bleeding, he was limping, and his eye was swollen and bruised.

To look at him was to see the fiercest face of competition. Not just the glory, but the adversity and agony that comes along with most meaningful achievements. The visual was a powerful one, making it impossible to suggest that none of it mattered in the shadow of Jon Jones, even if it was all too easy to suggest that Cormier isn’t the rightful UFC light heavyweight champion.

And it has been all too easy. I must admit I have been among the many to downplay the legitimacy of the belt around Cormier’s waist. The rationale went like this:

  • The belt was unjustly ripped away from Jones by UFC brass.
  • Jones hadn’t had his day in court.
  • Unlike athletes in other sports, Jones had no possibility of appealing the UFC’s decision.

Because of the lack of due process, Jones—and by extension his supporters—had every right to continue to claim the position he had rightfully earned as the division’s No. 1. Besides, he had already beaten Cormier, and not in the distant past either, soundly routing him in January by unanimous decision.

Given that set of circumstances, Cormier seemed something like a paper champion, even if it was the best kind—a former Olympian with a compelling life history and an affable manner. But a paper championship seemed about all he could claim. After all, how legitimate is any asset stolen and redistributed?

As the UFC machine chugs along, sometimes running over bystanders in its wake, the issue of fighters’ rights seems to pervade more and more stories, and this is yet another one. Jones could have appealed the UFC’s decision, if only there was a way to do so. Instead, he had no choice and no voice in the matter. Regardless of his actions in the April car crash that precipitated the UFC’s decision, he deserved to have due process. He got it in the courts but not with his employer, with whom he has had some notable and public disagreements.

Jones was unfairly stripped of the belt. I believed it then; I will always believe it. And so he is No. 1. I cannot penalize him for a decision he had no say in.

But on Saturday it struck me that if I am going to treat Jones with such fairness, then I must treat Cormier the same way.

It is not Cormier’s fault that Jones got into trouble or that the UFC reacted so strongly against Jones. All Cormier has done is react to a new set of circumstances. Given opportunity, he burst through the door. It is the exact kind of action we should demand from the sport’s champions.

Why should we demean his accomplishments because of someone else’s situation? Indeed, his accomplishment is significant, even if it comes with a caveat.

Promotional titles are a strange thing anyway. They are subject to the whims of a small group of opinion-makers, which is how you occasionally end up with things like insta-interim belts and champions fighting unaccomplished challengers. In the quest to find No. 1, we are often sidetracked and distracted.

But sometimes we need to be reminded there’s a humanity to this, too.

These are real people overcoming real obstacles.

In his last two fights, Cormier has had to train and sacrifice, suffer and struggle against Anthony Johnson and Alexander Gustafsson. He’s been wobbled and knocked down and hurt, and he’s persevered to win. And it is unfair to make all of that hollow—to demean and devalue his blood and sweat because of something beyond his control.

If you object to the characterization of Cormier as the champion, you are more objecting to the UFC’s hasty reaction than to Cormier. Jones is certainly the best light heavyweight alive. His nine-month layoff is inconsequential as a measurement mechanism. He has beaten Cormier and Gustafsson, as well as Ryan Bader and Rashad Evans—all of the four light heavyweights featured on Saturday night. By record and skill, Jones is the best. But saying Jones is the best and Cormier is the champion are not mutually exclusive statements.

It is messy, but it is true. Jones is the best, and Cormier is the champion. There. That isn’t so bad to say. After Saturday night, it’s actually starting to make some sense.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com