I guess that Yoel Romero title fight isn’t going to materialize for UFC 230 in New York, which may not be such a bad thing for Alexander Gustafsson, as “The Mauler” instead gets the Jon Jones rematch he’s been clamoring for ever since “Bones” captured a narrow decision win over the towering Swede roughly five years back.
That’s according to promotion president Dana White, who told ESPN that Jones vs. Gustafsson 2 could headline the upcoming UFC 232 pay-per-view (PPV) event, scheduled for Sat., Dec. 29, 2018 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The women’s featherweight title fight between Cris Cyborg and Amanda Nunes is also slated for UFC 232 and would likely co-headline if an interim title was created to fill the 205-pound void while Daniel Cormier cashes out at heavyweight.
“It’s one of the greatest light heavyweight title fights in history and I expect the rematch to be the same!!!” White told veteran combat sports reporter Brett Okamoto.
The first Jones-Gustafsson fight is widely considered one of the greatest light heavyweight title fights of all time; however, Jones’ career has been a veritable disaster in the years that followed and the longtime pound-for-pound great, now 30, has competed just four times during that span.
It’s kind of amazing that he competed at all when you factor in his felony arrest, along with a pair of drug-test suspensions, the latter of which overturned his “DC” win at UFC 214 and sidelined Jones until October 2018.
Gustafsson, meanwhile, also saw his share of ups and downs. After getting creamed by Anthony Johnson in early 2015, The 31 year-old “Mauler” lost a close decision to Cormier in a showdown for the light heavyweight title, then battled injuries that hampered his fight frequency.
The fight is not official at this time and there are still plenty of moving parts, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire, so expect something more concrete to surface over the next couple of days.
Stay tuned.