Alexander Gustafsson's manager recently declared that "The Mauler" would rather sit out to face the winner of Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier instead of taking another fight in the interim.
The only problem is, that means he could potentially be out for a year, since the "Bones" vs. "DC" light heavyweight title fight has been moved to UFC 182, which will take place on Jan. 3, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A move Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) had to make after Jones suffered a knee injury which canceled their plans to take care of business at UFC 178 on Sept. 27, 2014.
And though Gustafsson tried his best to lobby to get back his title fight against Jones, which he lost due to a knee injury, Lorenzo Fertitta declared that Jones vs. Cormier title fight would stay intact.
That decision prompted the towering Swede to rip the promotion for preferring to stage a title fight between two "clowns" who think an all-out brawl will promote a fight better than the possibility of staging "the fight of the century."
During a recent interview with UFC's "The Download," White revealed he sides with Fertitta.
"Gustafsson is upset, but it's not like we took Gustafsson out of the fight. Gustafsson got hurt and he's out. Cormier stepped in and accepted the fight and this is the fight that is going to happen now. The reality is, we had Gustafsson versus Jones, he was the number one contender, that was the fight. He got hurt. He fell out of the fight. Well, people can say, 'Now Jones is hurt.' Well yeah, but this is the fight that's happening now."
As for Team Gustafsson's plan to sit out, White says he has other things in store for "The Mauler."
"Gustafsson will probably fight again. We'll probably do another fight for him. He'll probably fight again to stay active, stay top of mind and the guy has to make money."
Next up for Gustafsson could be heavy-handed Anthony Johnson, as White confirmed that Gustafsson vs. Johnson would probably be the fight that would "make the most sense." But he may have a hard time convincing Big Gus to sign on the dotted line.
Stay tuned.