Alexander Gustafsson Believes Jon Jones Was ‘On Something’ At UFC 165
After a dominant fifth round stoppage victory over Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC Fight Night 109 late last month (May 28, 2017), No. 1-ranked UFC light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson said that former champion Jon Jones, who edged out a closely contested decision over Gustafsson back in 2013, ‘was not a good person’.
On yesterday’s (June 5, 2017) edition of The MMA Hour, “The Mauler” reiterated these claims:
“No, I stand by it,” he said. “The thing is, they had a press conference after the fight and they asked me about Jon Jones and I told them the way I feel. I just told them the truth. I’m not a trash talker. I don’t trash talk, I don’t do that sh*t. But they asked me and I’m not going to lie. I just felt like, he’s probably the greatest fighter we’ve seen. But as a person, I don’t like him.
“I don’t like how he’s talking on the stage, doing the cocaine thing, with so many young people, kids and everything, looking up to him. I just feel like, man, come on. I don’t support that stuff at all. So I just told the media what I think of him.”
As far as ‘the cocaine thing’ goes, Gustafsson is referring to Jones’ 2015 failed drug test for cocaine metabolites, which came after his UFC 182 victory over current champion Daniel Cormier, who he’ll rematch at UFC 214 on July 29. The rematch will mark Jones’ first fight after serving a year long suspension from USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) for another failed drug test that occurred last July. This failed test, however, was for a banned substance.
Speaking on Jones’ issues outside of the cage, Gustafsson feels as if he’s ‘been getting caught for everything’:
“He’s been getting caught for everything, it feels like one thing after the other, but the way he was sitting on the stage with DC and he just said he did cocaine a week before he fought him,” he told Ariel Helwani. “He’s not even embarrassed telling that stuff, he’s just proud telling that stuff. For me it’s just, you don’t do that, come on — not [with] being such a good fighter.
“And he’s been doing so good, nobody’s been able to compete with him. He’s been pound-for-pound the best guy, and I believe he is. He hasn’t lost. He hasn’t lost yet to nobody. So that’s just how I feel.”
Jones had indeed been dominant throughout his 205-pound title reign, with his only close fight coming in the five round war against Gustafsson. His latest fight came at UFC 197 last year when he scored a lack luster decision victory over Ovince Saint Preux after spending over a year on the sidelines dealing with legal issues.
Jones came into that fight looking much larger than he had in previous fights. He cited a new found love for power lifting as the reason why. Gustafsson, however, was skeptical and even went as far to say the he feels Jones was on something when they fought each other:
“Well, you know, he hadn’t been in the cage for a long time when he fought him,” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t know if he was on it or not for that fight, but I believe he was when we fought and stuff like that. But anyway, it’s history now and new times are coming, and we probably will fight again some day.”
Since Gustafsson’s victory over Teixeira, him and Jones have been going back-and-forth on social media and a rematch could certainly take place in the future.
Would you like to see these two light heavyweight titans run it back?
