Gustafsson’s call for rematch the easy part
Say this for UFC light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson: He’s a student of history. After UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (20-1 mixed martial arts, 15-1 UFC) emphatically defended his title in a muchanticipated grudge match against Daniel Cormier (15-0, 4-1) at UFC 182 in Las Vegas, Gustafsson (16-2, 8-2) wasn’t about to let his claim to a rematch with the champ go unremarked upon. Shortly after the pay-per-view headliner ended, Gustafsson put a message on his Facebook page.
“Jon ‘Bones’ Jones,” Gustafsson wrote, “I am not impressed by your performance!”
To casual fans it might sound like the tamest form of trash talk, especially in a sport in which it’s almost blasé for competitors to threaten one another with bodily harm. But to longtime fight fans, it draws a powerful comparison.
That famous line was uttered by UFC great Georges St-Pierre, who directed it at then-welterweight champion Matt Hughes when Hughes was king of the mountain and St-Pierre was some guy who’d come up short in his first crack at the title. It was St-Pierre’s way of asking for a rematch after Hughes had dispatched B.J. Penn. And it worked.
St-Pierre was granted a second shot at Hughes and knocked him out in the second round. StPierre would go on to win the rubber match before eventually becoming the sport’s greatest welterweight.
For Gustafsson, who lost a close fight against Jones via unanimous decision in 2013, it’s probably tempting to see himself in a scenario in which history repeats itself. But is it accurate?
That will depend on what happens when Gustafsson meets fellow contender Anthony Johnson (18-4, 9-4) in the main event of UFC on Fox 14 in Stockholm on Jan. 24. The winner likely will get the next shot at Jones, which might be a mixed blessing considering that the champion appears to be at his peak.
The unanimous-decision victory against Cormier gave Jones his eighth consecutive title defense. It also knocked off the man who’d been his most outspoken critic, leaving the champ with an open space on his dance card.
“My plan is to become the greatest fighter of all time, and it’s so feasible and attainable,” Jones said after Saturday’s event. “I do believe 2015 will be the year I solidify that.”
To that end, he could do a lot worse than to take aim at Gustafsson next. After all, as Jones admitted after his latest win, the Swedish fighter was the man who has given him the toughest fight of his career.
It was a bloody battle that garnered fight of the year accolades and sent both limping to the hospital. It also was close enough to leave doubt as to who was the better fighter, which is all the more reason Jones would love the chance to settle the matter.
But as long as Gustafsson is evoking the memory of St-Pierre’s rise to greatness, he also might want to look at the statistics.
That eighth consecutive title defense places Jones one behind the mark that St-Pierre reached before walking away from the sport last year.
As much as Gustafsson might want to follow St-Pierre’s lead in reaching the top, it’s Jones who’s a lot closer to eclipsing what he did once he got there.