Jon Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson 3? “The Mauler” considering UFC revenge tour
Jones vs Gustafsson 3? That’s the fight that Sweden’s greatest MMA fighter would want, along with several opportunities to get revenge.
Last night in Stockholm there was a press conference held for AK Fighting Championship 3 in Gothenburg, December 11th. Swedish UFC veteran Alexander Gustafsson will compete in a no-gi submission wrestling bout against undefeated prospect Anton Turkalj. However, while that is an interesting return to combat sports, most fans truly wonder about a return to MMA.
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MMAnytt was on site for the press conference, and reporter Ashah Tafari spoke with Gustafsson about a UFC return. Gustafsson was just as open but non-committed to the idea as before. However upon speaking of a return he had one thing in mind: Revenge.
“I feel like I have unfinished business in my weight class,” Gustafsson told MMAnytt. “I lost some fights I shouldn’t have because of technique issues, not because I got tired or something like that, I just made tactical errors, need to work more on my skills in training and… It’s light heavyweight I’ll be staying in now and like I said, I have to sort out some losses there before I can think about anything else.”
“One loss at a time”
The first potential rematches that come to mind are to right the wrongs that occurred on home soil. In MMA Gustafsson only has two losses in his home country of Sweden, to Anthony Johnson and most recently Anthony Smith. Those are the first potential rematches that come to mind. Though Gustafsson can’t help but mention a third shot at rival Jon Jones either. Gustafsson has faces Jones twice, with the first bout coming at UFC 165 in Toronto. Most of the MMA community had dismissed Gustafsson’s chances against Jones, but the Swede’s performance in itself would prove to be a huge upset, despite him losing a close decision.
“In my last fight against Smith…it was a fight I was winning and I just screwed it up… Anthony Johnson might make a comeback, that might also be a fight I can get back, try against Jones once again, we’ll see how that goes. I’ve got a few losses on me, we’ll have to take it one loss at a time.”
“He’s got many years left so he’s got tons of time to fight,” Gustafsson’s long time friend and training partner Ilir Latifi chimed in. “If he wants to move up to heavyweight in his career I think he could do it whenever he wants. He’s big for light heavyweight, he’s big for heavyweight, so I think he has tons of time. Att he same time he’s not as fat as me,” Latifi joked.
Out of six total career losses, half of those have come challenging for the UFC title – a feat few can claim. Gustafsson has been an elite light heavyweight for a long time and while he has been able to reach the top he hasn’t been able to establish himself as the number one in the division. Perhaps his return to competition will reignite the fire that we saw take him to several UFC title shots.
