Top Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight contender, Alexander Gustafsson, may be 0-2 in recent 205-pound title fights, but you can argue his decision losses to Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier were close enough to swing in either direction after five grueling rounds.
More on those performances here and here.
That’s why “The Mauler” will be keeping a close eye on the main event of the UFC 214 pay-per-view (PPV) in July (details), which pits Jones and Cormier against one another with “DC” putting his division strap on the line in Anaheim, California.
But don’t expect Gustafsson to be rooting for the embattled Jones.
“I don’t like him,” Gustafsson said during the UFC Fight Night 109 post-fight press conference (watch it here). “I give him that he’s the best fighter of all time, the best pound-for-pound fighter in our division.”
“But as a person, as a champion, he’s not a champion in my eyes. He’s not a good person, in my eyes,” he said. “That’s why I always tell the guys that I hope ‘DC’ wins because he is a worthy champion and I like the guy.”
That said, the “new and improved” Swede knows he can beat them both.
Gustafsson (18-4) will likely get a second chance to prove it after smashing fellow contender Glover Teixeira at last Sunday’s (May 28, 2017) UFC Fight Night 109 mixed martial arts (MMA) event on FOX Sports 1 (watch the replay here).
The light heavyweight division is finally to starting itself out.