UFC 232  Light Heavyweight Championship Fight

This past weekend, UFC 232,  which was held at the Forum in Inglewood, California, featured the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between former champion Jon Jones and former title challenger Alexander Gustafsson.   

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Daniel Cormier Stripped of Title

The current champion, Daniel Cormier, who is now focusing on defending his UFC Heavyweight Championship belt, will be stripped of the Light Heavyweight Championship belt.  In October, Dana White said, “Cormier is hurt right now…He broke his hand in the Stipe fight. So when they’re in these types of situations, much like the Conor situation and others that it’s happened to, George St-Pierre, whoever, Cormier by tying up two belts is going to have to give up one of the belts.”

Rematch Between Jones and Gustafsson

Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson have already fought before in September of 2013 at UFC 165 where Jones won a controversial unanimous decision.  There was also supposed to be another rematch in September 2014 to headline UFC 165, but it was cancelled when Gustafsson tore his right meniscus and lateral collateral ligament.

Alexander Gustafsson Biography

Alexander Gustafsson was born on January 15, 1987 in Arboga, Sweden.  He began training MMA in 2006, after beginning training boxing when he was 10 years old.  As a boxed, he even won the national championship (junior-level) in 2003 at the age of 16.  Additionally, in 2008-2009, he returned to boxing competition, winning some amateur tournaments in Sweden and even defeating the Swedish heavyweight boxing champion in an amateur fight.

 

UFC Career

Gustafsson signed with the UFC in September, 2009.  His first fight was against Jared Hamman on November 14, 2009 at UFC 105.  Gustafsson was able to drop Hamman with a straight right punch, winning the fight via KO at :41 in the first round.

His second UFC fight was against Phil Davis on April 10, 2010 at UFC 112.  Unfortunately for Alexander, this fight did not fare as well, as he was submitted via anaconda choke in 4:55 of the first round.  After this loss, he decided to quit his regular job to fully commit to MMA (he had worked as a construction worker and bouncer).

In his third UFC match, he faced kickboxing and MMA veteran Cyrille Diabate at UFC 120.  For this fight, Gustafsson traveled to San Diego, CA and began training with Alliance MMA (who he continues to train with today)- with the likes of Phil Davis, Dominic Cruz, Brandon Vera, Joey Beltran and Travis Browne.  He credits his training with Alliance MMA in allowing him to win his fight over Diabate- dropping him twice, before submitting him with a rear-naked choke in the second round.

UFC Bonuses:

During his MMA career in the UFC, Alexander has won Fight of the Night bonuses four times- vs, Jon Jones, Jimi Manuwa, Daniel Cormier, and Glover Teixeira.  Additionally, he has won Performance of the Night vs Jimi Manuwa, and Fight of the Year vs Jon Jones in 2013.

 

Mixed Martial Arts Record:

Opponent                Method                        Date

Win Glover Teixeira KO (punches) 28-May-17

Win Jan Błachowicz Decision (unanimous) 3-Sep-16

Loss Daniel Cormier Decision (split) 3-Oct-15

Loss Anthony Johnson TKO (punches) 24-Jan-15

Win Jimi Manuwa KO (knee and punches) 8-Mar-14

Loss Jon Jones Decision (unanimous) 21-Sep-13

Win Maurício Rua Decision (unanimous) 8-Dec-12

Win Thiago Silva Decision (unanimous) 14-Apr-12

Win Vladimir Matyushenko TKO (punches) 30-Dec-11

Win Matt Hamill TKO (punches and elbows) 6-Aug-11

Win James Te Huna Submission- rear-naked choke 27-Feb-11

Win Cyrille Diabaté Submission-rear-naked choke 16-Oct-10

Loss Phil Davis Submission-anaconda choke 10-Apr-10

Win Jared Hamman KO (punches) 14-Nov-09

Win Vladimir Shemarov KO (punches) 30-May-09

Win Pedro Quetglas TKO (punches) 8-Nov-08

Win Krzysztof Kułak Decision (unanimous) 13-Sep-08

Win Matteo Minonzio TKO (punches) 10-May-08

Win Florian Muller TKO (knee to the body) 13-Mar-08

Win Farbod Fadami TKO (punches) 9-Feb-08

Win Mikael Haydari TKO (punches) 15-Dec-07

Win Saku Heikola Submission-rear-naked choke 17-Nov-07

 

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