As of the moment, the future of former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones remains to be in limbo. He is still waiting on his arbitration with USADA for his failed UFC 214 drug test, and whether or not he will be thrown the book and be slapped with a maximum four-year suspension for this second infraction in the UFC.
Also waiting for developments on the sidelines is number one contender Alexander Gustafsson, who is affected by the current logjam in his division’s title picture. But according to “The Mauler”, beating Jon Jones would actually bring him more satisfaction than winning a title, so much so that he is willing to make a fight happen, even outside of MMA.
“If he doesn’t come back, maybe I’ll fight him in boxing,” Gustafsson said of Jones during the most recent episode of the JRE MMA Show podcast (transcript via MMAjunkie). “(Winning over him) is bigger than winning the belt.”
There may be other contenders in the division for him to face, but Gustafsson says he is only looking for fights against top-ranked fighters. He also feels he is in a position where he only deserves the right offers.
“It just has to be a meaningful offer, it has to be something I feel, ‘This is right, this is what I want.’ I feel like in my position, in my career right now, every fight has to mean something,” Gustafsson said of his next fight.
“It could be something else too (besides Jones or Cormier rematches), but it has to feel right. It has to be something meaningful. Something good. Everybody knows when I’m stepping up into that octagon I’m going to perform and I’m going to make a show. I’m looking for that gold. That’s all I’m seeing.”
Gustafsson (18-4, with 14 wins by stoppage), last fought in May 2017 in his home country of Sweden, where he knocked out Glover Teixeira in the fifth round. The two men also bagged $50,000 each for Fight of the Night honors.
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