Alexander Gustafsson's height and reach was supposed to bring him greatness. Jon Jones's freakishly athletic ability and natural talent was supposed to make him the greatest champion the sport has ever seen. The two met tonight (Sat., Sept. 21, 2013) at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the main event of UFC 165 with the light heavyweight title -- and for "Bones" a couple records -- on the line.
"The Mauler" opened with a big combination, landing some clean punches and continuing the success he found in the first couple rounds. Jones, meanwhile, continued throwing those push kicks, both to the head and the knees.
Add in some spinning back kicks, as well.
Jones landed a head kick that probably should have been more effective than it was. In fact, Gustafsson just ate it and kept on coming. This didn't look like we were watching a phenom stalking his prey like in past Jones fights; this looked like an evenly matched challenger giving the champion a good run for his money.
Jones started scoring some offense of his own late and it was then that "The Mauler" appeared to be breathing a little heavy. Fatigue setting in?
Nonetheless, he stayed heavy in tight. His next takedown attempt came up lame, stuffed easily. Jones missed a spinning elbow and Gustafsson couldn't finish a takedown to close out the frame.
For more on "Jones vs. Gustafsson" click here, and for complete UFC 165 results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the night's action click here.
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