Alexander Gustafsson: If Jon Jones Fought At 80 Percent, I Would Have Finished Him
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones picked up an impressive win in the main event of last Saturday night’s (April 26, 2014) UFC 172 from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Picking apart overmatched challenger Glover Teixeira with an effective arsenal of punches, kicks, elbows, and knees, “Bones” solidified a spot in his long-awaited rematch with Alexander Gustafsson, who gave Jones undoubtedly the toughest fight of his life at last September’s UFC 165.
Gustafsson has been very vocal about his rematch with Jones, something that we haven’t always seen from “The Mauler.” Today, the Swedish No. 1 contender appeared on “The MMA Hour” to discuss his take on Jones’ record-setting seventh straight title defense. “Gus” noted that while Jones dominated Teixeira, it wasn’t the spectacular finish that we’ve often seen from “Bones”:
“He was dominating Glover from the beginning, no doubt about it. But, I don’t know it seemed like he didn’t perform like he used to do. I thought that, I don’t know, he did enough to win the fight basically.
We used to see spectacular things with Jon Jones when he fights. He mixed things up and he did it in this fight too. But he didn’t do it like he used to do in his previous fights.”
Gustafsson moved on to discuss his rematch with “Bones,” saying that their first fight has made the champion weary to step back into the cage with “The Mauler”:
“I think I’m in his head now. I’ve been learning a lot in my years, it’s not just the fight itself; it’s mentally fighting each other, that’s something I learned later days. I realize now it’s very important. I think it’s all in his head now and he gets irritated just by my name. I think that’s good. I’m not a trash talker, that’s not my thing. But if someone asks me, I’m going to say what I feel and what I think.”
Gustafsson may have a good point, because when the topic of the rematch immediately arose after UFC 172, Jones said he didn’t want to talk about it. One thing Jones did talk about heading into UFC 172 was his insinuation that he had only trained at 80 percent heading into his first fight with Gustafsson. “The Mauler” scoffed at that notion, giving his take on what would have happened at UFC 165 if that were true:
“If he fought at 80 percent, I would have finished him.”
After Jones’ win over Teixeira UFC President Dana White did want to talk about the champ’s rematch with Gustafsson, and the fight was teased for a future event in the challenger’s native Sweden.
While there are still a lot of roadblocks before that truly happens, Gustafsson had a simple assessment of the potential booking:
“It would be a dream come true for me.”
It definitely would. With Jones vs. Gustafsson II being perhaps the most anticipated bout the UFC has on the docket for 2014, will “The Mauler” be the one to finally wrest the belt from the iron grip of “Bones?”
Photo: Kyle Terada for USA TODAY Sports
