Alexander Gustafsson Offers Backhanded Compliment To ‘Fat Guy’ Daniel Cormier

Former two-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson thought he had a third title shot locked up when he knocked out Glover Teixeira in the fifth round of their rousing slugfest in Sweden last May. However, the rise of formerly surging contender Volkan Oezdemir coupled with shoulder surgery for ‘The Mauler’ lead to him […]

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Former two-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson thought he had a third title shot locked up when he knocked out Glover Teixeira in the fifth round of their rousing slugfest in Sweden last May.

However, the rise of formerly surging contender Volkan Oezdemir coupled with shoulder surgery for ‘The Mauler’ lead to him being passed over, and when current UFC 205-pound champion Daniel Cormier smothered Oezdemir in the co-main event of UFC 220 this January, yet another roadblock presented itself for the Swedish slugger.

Also on that card, heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic put in a similarly dominant performance over hyped knockout striker Francis Ngannou, paving the way for a high-profile champion vs. champion super fight this July that has once again left Gustafsson out in the cold.

He’s tried to stay relevant on social media, but it’s brought mixed results, as his recent callout of Cormier’s teammate Luke Rockhold, who was recently knocked out by Yoel Romero and teased a move up to 205 pounds, was a little cringe-worthy considering ‘The Soldier of God’ had only put Rockhold’s lights out a few days prior.

So Gustafsson has relegated himself to discussing the Miocic vs. Cormier fight in interviews in hopes of facing the winner, something he did during a recent appearance on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast (via MMA Mania). In the interview, Gustafsson started with some praise of former heavyweight Cormier, focusing on his win over Josh Barnett in the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix:

“He did good, he didn’t lose as a heavyweight. He is good. He lifted (Josh Barnett) up like nothing.

“This fight against Stipe, if it was against another heavyweight I would probably say Stipe is going to win. But ‘DC’ is a really good heavyweight, so we will see what happens. He is world class, doesn’t take a step back and he is in your face.”

Gustafsson had some praise for Miocic as well, but also focused on Cormier’s toughness before the compliments ended and he added that “DC” had great conditioning for a “fat guy”:

“He’s a badass, but ‘DC’ is such a competitive guy. He goes for it, in tough situations he eats it and comes right back and does what he does, always. And for being a fat guy, that guy is doing five rounds like nothing. So his conditioning is on top.”

That’s about as brazen as the usually respectful “Mauler” gets with his trash talk, yet he’s stepped that part of his game up recently after feeling slighted at being passed over the title shot a second time.

Gustafsson fought Cormier in a narrow split decision at UFC 192 that was one of the best fights of 2015, and he infamously took legendary former 205-pound champion Jon Jones to the limit in their classic match-up back at UFC 165. Since then, however, a series of injuries have derailed Gustafsson’s chances at getting another title shot, even though he’s clearly on the cusp of being champion and could have been twice if only one judge’s card had gone his way in two instances.

He’s going to have to wait a bit longer, and with Cormier planning to retire in less than a year’s time, that shot may never come – at least not against his second greatest rival.

On the other hand, he may have a shot at the belt in Cormier’s final fight, and what a fitting end to one of the sport’s greatest careers that would be.

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UFC Rankings Update: Conor McGregor Finally Falls On P4P List

Conor McGregor’s outrageous antics – and his overall lack of any in-cage activity – have finally begun to affect his ranking on the official pound-for-pound list. In the newest rankings released this week, McGregor fell one spot to No. 4 as heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic overtook him at No. 3. McGregor, of course, was last […]

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Conor McGregor’s outrageous antics – and his overall lack of any in-cage activity – have finally begun to affect his ranking on the official pound-for-pound list.

In the newest rankings released this week, McGregor fell one spot to No. 4 as heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic overtook him at No. 3. McGregor, of course, was last seen throwing a metal dolly through a bus window before UFC 223, resulting in his arrest and pending court date on a felony and multiple misdemeanors. “The Notorious” was also stripped of his lightweight title after the event, marking the second title of which he’s been relieved of without a single defense.

Miocic, meanwhile, has been a picture of consistency in an otherwise inconsistent heavyweight division, defending his title three times since winning it with a first-round knockout of Fabricio Werdum at 2016’s UFC 198. The Cleveland-based firefighter will face light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in the main event of July 7’s UFC 226 after the two coach The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 27, which debuted last night.

The other significant rankings movement took place in the currently booming lightweight division, with rising contender Dustin Poirier moving up one spot to No. 4 after his exciting fourth-round TKO finish over Justin Gaethje, who dropped down to No. 7 for his second straight UFC loss.

That shakeup forced previous No. 4 Edson Barboza down to No. 5 and allowed Kevin Lee, Barboza’s upcoming opponent in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., April 21, 2018) UFC Fight Night 128 from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to rise up to No. 6, creating a No. 5 vs. No. 6 match-up at 155 pounds for the second straight week.

You can check out the full updated rankings from the UFC’s official website here:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Georges St-Pierre
3 Stipe Miocic +1
4 Conor McGregor -1
5 Daniel Cormier
6 Max Holloway
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley +1
8 Khabib Nurmagomedov
10 Cris Cyborg
11 Tony Ferguson
12 Amanda Nunes
13 Robert Whittaker
14 Cody Garbrandt
15 Rose Namajunas

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 John Moraga +4
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Wilson Reis -2
9 Ben Nguyen -1
10 Dustin Ortiz -1
11 Matheus Nicolau +1
12 Alexandre Pantoja -1
13 Tim Elliott
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 John Dodson
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 Bryan Caraway -1
10 Pedro Munhoz
10 Cody Stamann +1
12 Rob Font
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Brett Johns
15 Eddie Wineland

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Cub Swanson
5 Jeremy Stephens
6 Josh Emmett
7 Ricardo Lamas
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Renato Moicano
10 Darren Elkins
11 Yair Rodriguez
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Dooho Choi
14 Zabit Magomedsharipov
15 Myles Jury

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier +1
5 Edson Barboza -1
6 Kevin Lee +1
7 Justin Gaethje -1
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Paul Felder
15 Olivier Aubin-Mercier

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Kamaru Usman
7 Darren Till
9 Neil Magny
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Gunnar Nelson +1
13 Alex Oliveira *NR
14 Leon Edwards
15 Dong Hyun Kim

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Jacare Souza
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Chris Weidman
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Vitor Belfort
10 Uriah Hall
10 Brad Tavares +5
12 Thiago Santos -1
13 Lyoto Machida -1
14 Paulo Costa
15 Antonio Carlos Junior *NR

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Ilir Latifi
5 Jan Blachowicz
6 Jimi Manuwa
7 Mauricio Rua
8 Ovince Saint Preux
9 Misha Cirkunov
10 Corey Anderson
11 Patrick Cummins
12 Tyson Pedro
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Gian Villante
15 Jordan Johnson

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Alexander Volkov
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Fabricio Werdum
6 Mark Hunt
6 Derrick Lewis
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Andrei Arlovski
10 Aleksei Oleinik
11 Stefan Struve
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Shamil Abdurakhimov
14 Junior Albini
15 Justin Ledet

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Alexa Grasso
10 Cortney Casey
11 Randa Markos
12 Tatiana Suarez
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Nina Ansaroff
15 Angela Hill

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Roxanne Modafferi
6 Barb Honchak
7 Liz Carmouche
8 Katlyn Chookagian
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Mara Romero Borella
13 Paige VanZant
14 Montana De La Rosa
15 Rachael Ostovich

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Raquel Pennington
3 Julianna Pena
4 Ketlen Vieira
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Leslie Smith
10 Aspen Ladd
11 Bethe Correia
12 Irene Aldana
13 Lucie Pudilova
14 Sarah Moras
15 Lina Lansberg

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Cormier: Conor McGregor Could ‘Go Off The Deep End’ At Any Time

Former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor committed what was by far the most ‘Notorious’ act of his MMA career when he stormed into the Barclays Center on April 5 and threw a metal dolly through a bus containing current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. The fallout of the all-out chaos saw McGregor booked […]

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Former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor committed what was by far the most ‘Notorious’ act of his MMA career when he stormed into the Barclays Center on April 5 and threw a metal dolly through a bus containing current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The fallout of the all-out chaos saw McGregor booked and jailed on a felony charge and multiple misdemeanors, and also left two fighters riding that bus unable to compete at April 7’s UFC 223 from Brooklyn.

It’s left the future of the UFC’s biggest star in extreme uncertainty – if not outright jeopardy – and it’s also left him drawing comparisons to troubled all-time UFC great Jon Jones, who has seen his otherwise historic career go careening down a path of disappointing drug-related issues.

The man perhaps most connected to the sad saga of ‘Bones,’ his longtime rival and current UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, recently weighed in on the parallels between McGregor and Jones during a recent media appearance (via Yahoo!) to promote tomorrow’s debut of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 27, which he’ll coach alongside heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.

To Cormier, his unpredictable nature won’t prevent fans from accepting him because he’s seen the same scene unfold with Jones:

“His behavior has been a tad bit erratic, and the one thing people don’t like is erratic behavior where they really don’t know what you’re doing next,” Cormier said. “But as we saw with Jones, it did not lead to people completely turning their backs on him. I think because of his ability to fight, and he’s such a special talent, people will accept him when he comes back.”

Cormier stopped short of declaring that the public would accept McGregor back fully, however, because he thinks people will still be somewhat tentative considering that he’s now showed he could do anything at any time:

“But they’ll be a little more leery of him because of that erratic behavior, he could go off the deep end at any time, as we saw in Brooklyn.”

It’s a good point from Cormier, who will face Miocic for the heavyweight title in the main event of July 7’s UFC 226 in an attempt to become one of the more decorated champions in UFC history.

The fight just as easily could have gone to Jones if he had not been suspended for using the anabolic steroid Turinabol prior to his UFC 214 knockout win over his longtime rival, but he did, and now it’s “DC” who stands on the edge of making history. It’s far from Jones’ only outside-the-cage transgression while scheduled to fight Cormier, so he’s all too familiar with how going off the edge in public can derail an otherwise supremely talented fighter.

McGregor’s the biggest star in UFC history on the other hand, and he’s yet to receive any kind of punishment from the UFC and accounting for how much they need him to return, he may not.

But the legal system he’s now caught up in is another matter altogether, and even though he may get off easy the first time, another such outburst may not produce the same result.

Will McGregor eventually go off the deep end as Cormier suggests he could?

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Daniel Cormier Still “Doesn’t Know” What Jon Jones Was Doing

Ranked as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC, light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is headed for one of the biggest contests of his decorated fighting career when he meets heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of July’s UFC 226 from Las Vegas, Nevada. If he is able to defeat the […]

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Ranked as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC, light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is headed for one of the biggest contests of his decorated fighting career when he meets heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of July’s UFC 226 from Las Vegas, Nevada.

If he is able to defeat the surging Ohio-born firefighter, Cormier will join Georges St-Pierre, BJ Penn, Randy Couture, and Conor McGregor on the short list of UFC combatants who have won gold in two weight classes, a feat that would absolutely put Cormier amongst the greatest MMA fighters in the sport’s history.

Yet it’s his two losses to the man that many still feel is the greatest MMA fighter of all-time in troubled former champion Jon Jones that he just can’t shake. Regardless of his accomplishments inside the octagon, most will remember ‘Bones’ knocking out Cormier at UFC 214 and outlasting him by decision at UFC 182 – both fights after which he was quickly embroiled in serious drug-related trouble – before they bring up ‘DC’s’ dominant second-round stoppage of formerly surging contender Volkan Oezdemir at January’s UFC 220.

It’s even lead to some so-called ‘fans’ labeling Cormier a ‘paper champion,’ something that’s a beyond laughable proposition considering he is also among the best competitors in UFC history. Jones’ continued and concerning inability to compete consistently is on him, and there’s little doubt that if he were able to stay clean and sober rather than failing multiple drug tests for a litany of both recreational and performance-enhancing drugs, he’d be the one fighting Miocic in the massive super fight this summer.

He’s not, and Cormier has the fight because of Jones’ ineptitude outside the cage, regardless of the fingers he’s pointing elsewhere. But because of that dynamic in play, Cormier will have to answer endless questions about Jones leading up to UFC 226, and those could be questions he doesn’t exactly have the answer for.

Speaking up on his hated rival with whom he’s forever linked in time in a recent interview with Bloody Elbow’s Stephie Haynes, Cormier said he still doesn’t know what Jones was thinking by allegedly taking steroids before their UFC 214 showdown last year because he doesn’t believe the transcendent talent needs them:

“I don’t know. I don’t know what he was doing. The only thing I can base an opinion on is from what came out publicly. I don’t think for a second that Jon Jones needed any type of enhancements to compete. I think he’s ultra-talented, he’s a fantastic fighter, he’s very smart in there, and I think he can do whatever he wants, but he chose to do it the wrong way.

“I can’t change that. All I can really worry about is what I can take care of.”

Regardless of the vagueness surrounding Jones’ questionable test failure the day of the UFC 214 weigh-ins after he had passed every previous test leading up to the event, Cormier understandably would like to avenge his only two MMA defeats.

So even though he’s competing for the heavyweight title this summer, he admits he’d still love to run it back with “Bones” and finally defeat his only comparable opponent at light heavyweight:

“If a chance to compete against him arises, then I’ll take it and hopefully, finally vindicate those losses. That’s the only guy that’s ever beat me, and if I can get those back, I’ll be in business.”

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Derrick Lewis Claps Back At Francis Ngannou’s Callout

Derrick Lewis is apparently sick of playing games with Francis Ngannou. After Lewis repeatedly called out the hulking Cameroonian in the weeks after Ngannou lost his title bid against current UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic at January’s UFC 220, Ngannou recently revealed he was ready to meet “The Black Beast,” imploring Lewis’ management to get […]

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Derrick Lewis is apparently sick of playing games with Francis Ngannou.

After Lewis repeatedly called out the hulking Cameroonian in the weeks after Ngannou lost his title bid against current UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic at January’s UFC 220, Ngannou recently revealed he was ready to meet “The Black Beast,” imploring Lewis’ management to get the ball rolling.

Today, Lewis replied while smoking a cigar in Jamaica, poking at Ngannou by saying someone should translate that he wants the fight to him while using a couple classic Yoel Romero hashtags:

@francisngannou it’s about time someone translated to you that I’ve been wanting this fight since last year #seeyousoonboy #iuhhyou

Ngannou had won all six of his UFC bouts by vicious stoppage prior to facing Miocic, an elite champion who showed “The Predator” what a true top mixed martial arts skillset looks like.

Lewis has won 10 of his 13 total UFC bouts and recently rebounded from a TKO loss to Mark Hunt by destroying Marcin Tybura at February’s UFC Austin. He’s repeatedly criticized Ngannou’s supposed gassing against Miocic, but “The Black Beast” has also been pegged as someone who falters when taken to the later rounds.

Both their styles are all-out, explosive, and knockout-focused, making this potential match-up one of the most explosive heavyweights fights the UFC could put on.

Should the UFC capitalize on the online heat and book the fight right away?

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Alexander Gustafsson Continues Assault On Luke Rockhold’s Move To Light Heavyweight

With champion Daniel Cormier heading up to heavyweight to face Stipe Miocic, top light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson has recently been involved in a rivalry with former middleweight champ Luke Rockhold. The beef initiated when Gustafsson called out Rockhold, who has been hinting at a move to 205 following increasingly hard weight cuts, in the days after his […]

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With champion Daniel Cormier heading up to heavyweight to face Stipe Miocic, top light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson has recently been involved in a rivalry with former middleweight champ Luke Rockhold.

The beef initiated when Gustafsson called out Rockhold, who has been hinting at a move to 205 following increasingly hard weight cuts, in the days after his vicious knockout loss to Yoel Romero at UFC 221 in February. Many criticized that move as incredibly bad given Rockhold would likely need a lengthy recovery from possibly the most earth-shaking knockout of 2018 thus far.

But Rockhold hasn’t shied away – quite the opposite.

He’s been in the headline for a litany of topics, and he added onto that by reacting to Gustafsson’s callout by promising he would be ‘coming for that a**.’

As expected, the Swede didn’t take kindly to that, quickly blasting Rockhold for being ‘chinny’ and calling his blaming of the weight cut an excuse. ‘The Mauler’ doubled down on his needling of Rockhold during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour as well, stating that his new rival opened the doors about his divisional shift and he only responded:

“First of all, he’s a good fighter, but he was saying a lot, that it’s easier to fight at 205 and just a lot of stuff.

“It feels like, to him, he was going up in weight just to have an easier fight, more or less, and I just told him that’s not case and here I am. So basically he was the one who started all of this, and I just followed up on it.”

As for his recent callout of Rockhold, who has lost two of his last three fights by way of brutal knockout, Gustafsson said he was only going on historical fact:

“I just go by facts,” Gustafsson said. “That’s all we’ve seen so far. And he thinks an easy thing coming up to light heavyweight, but I’m there to welcome him.”

‘The Mauler’ was thought to have a title shot in the wings after he demolished Glover Teixeira in an amazing match last May, but rising contender Volkan Oezdemir swooped in with three wins in 2017 when Gustafsson had surgery and was rapidly trounced by Cormier in January.

With the light heavyweight title picture uncertain for now as Cormier moves up to heavyweight for at least one bout, the title still remained the only goal of the towering striker.

If a shot isn’t available again, he said he would still settle for Rockhold and then move his focus to the championship:

“For me, it’s the belt basically. That’s my top priority right now because I feel like I’m the No. 1 contender and I’ve been fighting most of the guys in my division. So that’s my top priority. But if that can’t happen, I’m up for suggestions and we’re looking at, for example, Luke Rockhold, and then see if we can [figure] something good out.”

Gustafsson has lost two previous title bids in classic bouts with both decorated former champion Jon Jones and Cormier, and with Jones’ license revoked as he awaits his USADA sanctions for testing positive for anabolic steroids, ‘The Mauler’ doesn’t foresee a rematch with ‘Bones’ anytime soon, even if he wants one:

“He’s in a tough situation,” Gustafsson said.

“He feels like he’s too far away now. But if somehow he comes back, he has a way and he comes back, that’s also a fight I have to do. We need to do a second round, him and me, but let’s see how it plays out for him.”

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