Alexander Gustafsson may be coming off a lackluster win over Jan Blachowicz earlier this month, but he’s still in a much better spot in the light heavyweight division than Jon Jones. You would think that, anyway. Jones, after all of his issues over the last couple of years, was removed from UFC 200 after testing positive for estrogen blockers just days before a title fight with Daniel Cormier. Still though, it’s possible that Jones could get another matchup with Cormier when he’s eligible to return.
As a guest on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani (via MMA Fighting), Gustafsson stated that he doesn’t think it’s right if Jones gets an immediate title shot:
“It wouldn’t be fair, giving him a title shot. I’m not saying I’m going to get it. I’m just saying, after everything that happened, it’s not fair to other fighters too, who’ve been working their asses off and they’ve been fighting each other. So, not a title shot right away. Just give him a fun fight first and that’s it.”
Cormier defeated late replacement Anderson Silva in a non-title fight at UFC 200, but isn’t scheduled to defend his title against anyone coming up. The most obvious candidate would be Anthony Johnson, who is coming off a brutal 13-second KO win over Glover Teixeira, but Dana White has been talking about a Jones/Johnson matchup instead. That’s not something that appeals to Johnson though. So could he possibly rematch Gustafsson? Could Gustafsson rematch Jones? For his part, Gustafsson says he’ll take anyone:
“I’m up for suggestions, so why not?” Gustafsson said. “But let’s see what they say. I’m up for suggestions, so whatever they give me, I’m down with. A second fight with Jones, who knows. It’s going to be good though.”
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