Issue 119

September 2014

ALEXANDER GUSTAFSSON

The planet’s leading light heavyweight contender looks ahead to his fall title shot

 am counting down the days to September 27, after all, it’s the night I will complete my mission and be crowned UFC light heavyweight champion.

A lot of fans have been asking me if I thought the second fight with Jon Jones was even going to happen this summer, but I never had any doubts in my mind. I knew I was first in line and so I’ve been focused all year. 

I want the UFC title for my own and nobody was going to step in front of me to get at it first. I’ve been ready for this second fight with Jones throughout 2014, and it simply can’t come soon enough.

I believe, despite what he has said, Jones knows I am a better matchup than anybody else at 205lb. I am the toughest fight out there for him so I was not surprised when he started talking about other guys first. But I never had a doubt in my mind that the fight wouldn’t happen this year. 

We thought it would be in August in Las Vegas, that was the night I signed for originally. But then it was moved to September, in Toronto, but now we’re back in Las Vegas. 

At one point, there was a rumor of the fight moving to Sweden. That would have been incredible, of course. I was really hoping that would play out. That’s my dream. 

We have a 50,000-seat venue in Sweden just waiting to host a big fight like that. But that’s for the future; maybe a first defense in 2015.

But I was just down for whatever and wherever. Whatever it takes to get Jon Jones back inside the Octagon with me I would have signed for. It has ended up being UFC 178, so I’m happy. But If I’d had to go to Jackson’s gym in Albuquerque I would have done that too. All I kept saying to the UFC and everybody else was, ‘Whatever it takes, let’s do it.’

As always, I will be preparing for the fight at home in Stockholm at Allstars, then switching for the final few weeks to San Diego and my second home at Alliance MMA. That will not change.

But my life has changed since the first Jones fight. I have to do a lot of traveling now, meeting new people and fans. I love it but it takes me away from home more than ever before. I have to take a team with me when I travel, which allows me to be able to prepare for fights even though I may be on the road.

But I still get plenty of time at Allstars, so my focus has always been in the right place. Things are very busy back in Sweden, the gym is packed, as MMA has taken over. The entire country (Sweden) has caught mixed martial arts fever. 

MMA is well on its way to overtaking every other sport, and in the near future it will stand alongside soccer, for sure, as the nation’s number-one sport. Without a doubt. 

It’s already a completely mainstream sport. All of the newspapers and TV channels in Sweden are breaking MMA news all of the time now, and we are seeing the results of that in the gym too. 

We are getting so many guys, not just from Sweden, traveling to Allstars for training that it’s unbelievable. School kids are all training, it’s huge. And everybody in Sweden knows who I am. There really is no better place in the world to be training right now.

EA SPORTS, I’M IN THE GAME

If you love MMA but haven’t played the new EA Sports UFC game yet then what are you waiting for? It’s an incredible game, and is just so realistic. The first time I played it was against Brad Pickett over in Germany at the launch and it was great... It was fun. 

The details are really accurate and everyone has their signature moves, and tattoos and things like that. It’s really outstanding. 

I never found out what my signature moves were, however, as I never played as myself. I played as Jon Jones and Brad played as me – and he knocked me out, so... He didn’t need any special moves to win... But it was fun.

I still can’t look at the cover without thanking the fans. Every time I see it I’m taken aback. It’s great but also very humbling to me. It’s a huge honor for me to be on the cover, and it’s just still so insane the fans voted for me.