When the UFC returned to Stockholm in 2017, former light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson scored two wins in one night.
Alexander Gustafsson will always be regarded as one of the greatest fighters to never win a title in the UFC, despite his three attempts.
A large majority of the UFC fanbase still believes that Gustafsson beat Jon Jones when they first met in the cage back in 2013.
The legendary Swedish fighter briefly retired from the sport in 2019 after a loss against Anthony Smith, however, he was scheduled to return this year to fight Ovince St-Preux in GFL, but the event was cancelled.
Throughout his impressive UFC tenure, ‘The Mauler’ picked up wins over several UFC legends; however, arguably his most impressive win came against Glover Teixeira on May 28, 2017.
Alexander Gustafsson scored brutal KO win over Teixeira
After a split decision loss against Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight title, Gustafsson rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Jan Blachowicz just under a year later.
The promotion then announced that they were returning to Stockholm, Sweden, in 2017, and ‘The Mauler’ was the only fighter that made sense to headline the event.
The kickboxer was matched up against UFC veteran, Glover Teixeira, who was coming off the back of a win against Jared Cannonier.
Despite neither fighter particularly holding a long win streak in the division at the time, it was seen as a potential number one contender fight, with the winner potentially looking at fighting Jones.
From the opening round, the Swede utterly dominated the Brazilian veteran with his striking, and throughout the fight, it became clear that Gustafsson’s striking was just too much for Teixeira.
After dominating the first four rounds, Gustafsson scored one of the most brutal knockouts of all time in round five after he hit Teixeira with three consecutive right uppercuts before stepping back and unleashing a final right hook, sleeping Teixeira.
Gustafsson proposed to his girlfriend in the cage following brutal KO
Having just scored one of the most unique and brutal knockouts of all time, Gustafsson wasn’t finished there as he called his girlfriend into the Octagon.
“I love you and thanks for having a baby, I love you with all my heart, do you want to marry me?” Gustafsson asked as he got down on one knee.
His girlfriend subsequently said yes, and the Swedish crowd erupted in elation as they sang Gustafsson’s name.