Deep in the frozen Swedish countryside, UFC light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson prepares for his title eliminator against Gegard Mousasi in scenes reminiscent of the famous training montage from Rocky IV.
If someone was to show you a picture of the snow-white, blissfully quiet town of Arboga, Sweden, or somehow you met one of its 10,000-plus conservative countryside inhabitants, it’s unlikely you’d believe the area could produce not just one of the world’s most exciting mixed martial artists, but a man who has the skill-set to win perhaps the most coveted title in MMA history.
Never judge a book by its cover, however, as walking through the picturesque streets of this 13th-century town you can’t help but notice, in amongst the postcard splendor, images of a six-foot-five, blonde-haired, heavily bearded, mountain of a man. It’s clear we’re now in Alexander Gustafsson country.
On April 6th, 2013, headlining the UFC on Fuel TV 9 card in his nation’s capital, Stockholm, around a 90-minute train ride from Arboga, his countrymen will again get the chance to witness their hero take on the very best in the world, when 15-1 Gustafsson faces off against Dutch-Armenian Gegard Mousasi, the former Strikeforce and Dream title holder. It’s the most important fight of Gustafsson’s life: an official UFC title eliminator.
Here ‘The Mauler’ explains how the influence of the “two best coaches in the world” has helped him become the devastating fighter he is today, and how their joint game plans have helped him to overcome every challenger in his path.
The 26-year-old explains why splitting his training camps between Sweden and San Diego’s Team Alliance was one of the most important decisions of his career. And opens the doors to his custom-built gym in a barn next to the family home.
Welcome to the remote fight camp of Europe’s hottest mixed martial artist.
As Gustafsson jogs up the snowy hills of the Swedish countryside, his warm breath hanging in the air, the scene becomes eerily reminiscent of the training montage from Rocky IV. The disused barn converted into a gym, using nature as his strength and conditioning apparel. For a brief moment, you almost expect Dutch government agents to be tailing him wherever he goes.
Yet whilst Balboa sprinted through the snow enthusiastically, you won't find Gustafsson running up any mountain ranges and screaming, ‘Gegard!’ from the snowy peaks any time soon. In fact, it’s unlikely you’ll find Gustafsson doing anything quite like that. According to the Swede, he hates anything and everything to do with running.
Cardio circuits
“I don’t actually run that much, especially when it’s cold outside,” Gustafsson explains, frowning at the very thought of it. “I’m not a fan of running and there are other ways to work on your cardio. I can do sprints or I can run on a treadmill, but I don’t do it very often. My cardio comes from rounds of sparring, hitting pads, and doing circuits.”
And it’s those same circuits, done at home in and around the converted barn, and at All Stars Gym in Stockholm, helmed by Gustafsson’s head coach Andreas Michael, that have become legendary in European MMA. “The circuits we do at All Stars are always really difficult, “ Gustafsson says. “Andreas really puts us through our paces. Sometimes we’ll do a certain exercise for one five-minute round and other times we could have 11 stations and we’ll do a circuit for an hour, non-stop.
“We do a bunch of exercises, like deadlifts, clean and jerks, TRX, box jumps, push-ups, kettlebells, 100m sprints. We change the exercises around quite a bit.” And although his cardio workouts are enough to make most grown men cry, he’s rarely ever needed to exhibit how much gas he has in his tank, with only three of his 15 wins going the distance so far due to his outstanding boxing skills.
Training in the sweet science since the age of 10, Gustafsson has used his hands to ensure nine of his opponents have been laid out on their back. The likes of Vladimir Matyushenko, Jared Hamman and Matt Hamill have all failed to deal with Gustafsson’s stand-up technique and suffered the consequences for it. But boxing has not only become the trademark of Gustafsson’s game, but also the others who train under Michael at All Stars.
“I’ve always had a natural talent for boxing, plus Andreas is a former coach for the Swedish national team and he did professional boxing himself,” says Gustafsson. “It’s something we always train at All Stars Gym. We really focus on straight boxing when we’re here and all of our guys are really good boxers. That’s really our thing.”
MMA skills
Although his ability to put hands on the other men who stand across the cage from him is certainly respected among his MMA peers, Gustafsson is far from a one-trick pony. After a rest from a brutal circuit, he begins a Muay Thai session, striking the pads with venom and a blistering amount of power. It’s an area of his game he wants to improve upon significantly due to the benefits it has for him as a rangy striker.
Although he admits: “I’ll probably always be a better boxer than anything else, because that’s one of my biggest qualities. I do try to get better at my Muay Thai and my wrestling, but I believe I will always be a better boxer.”
As impressive as his boxing has been, and as good as his Muay Thai has the potential to be, it’s his wrestling, and his ability to defend takedowns against strong wrestlers like Matt Hamill, Phil Davis and Vladimir Matyushenko, that has caught the eye of many fans. After all, the general consensus for many years was that Europeans couldn’t wrestle. Yet Gustafsson has developed that area of his game greatly since his sole career defeat (15-1) to now-teammate Phil Davis three years ago.
Gustafsson says: “I wrestled as a kid, but it was nothing serious. I don’t think I have the skills I have today because of what I did as a kid. I think I naturally have good hips and I’m a boxer too, so when a guy tries to take me down I’m trying to make sure that they don’t touch me and they don’t get close to me.
“Everything I have in my power, I try to use it against them to not get taken down,” he adds. “Also, I work at Team Alliance so I’m training with some of the best wrestlers in the world, so when I’m there I get a lot of wrestling practice in.”
Another benefit from training at home is that protein replenishment after a heavy session is just yards away. And whilst most would expect his diet to be filled with Swedish cuisine, such as rotmos med flask (pork with mashed carrots and potatoes) or inkokt lax (boiled salmon) cooked by his beloved mother and grandma, when it comes to keeping Gustafsson at his walk around weight of 230lb, his meals are kept relatively simple.
“Usually it’s my mom’s food or my grandma’s food that I eat, but it’s usually just the standard chicken and rice. I don’t have any special kinds of Swedish food in my diet. I really enjoy Swedish meatballs and potatoes. But it’s very basic, simple food, and they make it the way I want it, so it’s very good.”
As healthy as his meals sound, Gustafsson makes it very clear he’s not one to shy away from fast food, occasionally indulging now and again to make his fight camp diet a little more bearable. “Most of the time I eat very well,” he says. “Sometimes I’ll have a burger from McDonald’s, but you’ve got to live a little too. I’m only human and sometimes you’ve got to be a little relaxed. But I don’t feel bad for doing that.
“When I’m in San Diego, I’ll have a burrito or I’ll have a burger. There are things there I can eat that I can’t really find back home, but I don’t do it that often. I only really indulge when I’m really craving for it. I try to stay healthy and I don’t really gain that much weight.
“I stay relatively light because I train hard, which is important to me because my fighting style centers around me being light on my feet. I need to be able to move in and out of range very quickly so I have to keep my weight under control.”
Right now, Gustafsson has no problem getting rid of the extra weight from the occasional cheeseburger, but he’s well aware that the older he gets, the harder it will become to shed the pounds and reach the 205lb weight limit. So could a move to the heavyweight division be in his future?
“You never know, but I’m going to stay at light heavy for as long as I can. This is my division and I’m 26 so I’m not that young anymore, so I think I better stay at light heavyweight. However, you never know as it might become too hard to make the weight.”
Living the dream
Once dinner with his family is over, Gustafsson returns outside to the barn. With icicles hanging from the roof and snow everywhere, it doesn’t look too appealing. But once inside it’s clear how much Gustafsson lives and breathes mixed martial arts.
He explains: “It’s a dream that I’ve had for a while. My mom owns a bed and breakfast in the countryside and she has a barn at the back of the house. On one side of the barn she’s got horses, ducks. Then on the other side I have my gym, which has a cage, mats, bags, kettlebells and grappling dummies. You name it, I’ve got it, and it’s an awesome thing to have. I’m very fortunate to have such a resource.
“It’s not a huge gym, it’s just two rooms. One room has mats, and another room has bags and a cage. I actually didn’t make the gym, my friends and family did it. I was away in Las Vegas for a camp with my home team at Team Alliance, I was training for the Thiago Silva fight. I came home two weeks beforehand and a few of my friends had helped make it for me. It was definitely a nice surprise.”
To have his very own fully kitted-out training center just yards from the family home is something most fighters can only dream about. Any time of the day or night, Gustafsson can switch on the lights and drill whatever technique or training session he desires.
As physically gifted and as talented as he is and even with a fantastic personal MMA gym in his backyard, Gustafsson will be the first to admit he owes a lot to the training he’s received from both Michael and Alliance head coach Eric Del Fierro. Both men have used their fighting experiences to mold him into Europe’s brightest new hope for a UFC champion.
“The team at All Stars is one of the best in Europe and I certainly get a lot of work done when I’m there,” he says. “We have great sparring partners, but it’s still very small and we don’t have too many fighters to work with. Also, when you start training with the same partners over and over again you begin to recognize their moves.
“The reason we go over to Team Alliance is because it gives us more bodies to spar with and they’re all world-class level guys. The coaches are fantastic too and my head coach Andreas and Eric Del Fierro both have a really good eye for game plans. Together they’re like magic (laughs). I get the best of both worlds and I really couldn’t ask for a better camp.”
With a return to the Ericsson Globe Arena and that title eliminator against highly regarded Dutch striker Mousasi on the horizon you’d be forgiven for thinking Gustafsson may be feeling the pressure. But, according to him, the only things that make him nervous when it comes to MMA are “sparring and sprinting,” whereas what he’s feeling for his fight against Mousasi is nothing short of sheer excitement.
“I’m super excited to fight Gegard; he’s a tough opponent. It’s the same feeling I got when I fought ‘Shogun’ [Rua], as I began watching him fight when I started watching MMA. Also, he’s a young guy with a lot of fight experience and he’s competed in everything when it comes to MMA. Plus, he’s pretty much won everything outside of the UFC, so I’m pretty excited and I believe that it’s going to be a great fight.”
As he steps out into the cold air, he stops and looks out at the horizon toward Stockholm. It’s at that moment he realizes all of his hard work, all the hours he’s spent sparring with countless training partners, and the tireless efforts of both Michael and Del Fierro will not only come to a head on April 6th, but it will be time to put up or shut up in regards to taking the final step towards one day bringing the UFC belt back home, not just Sweden, but to the proud little town of Arboga.
Postscript
Unfortunately just a week before the fight, Gustafsson suffered a cut in training and was deemed unclear to participate by the Swedish MMA Federation.
Gustafsson got his light heavyweight title showdown six months later but fought and lost to Jon Jones at UFC 165 in a Fight of the Night that went the full five rounds.
Gustafsson suffered a second defeat to Jones in another championship decider in 2018, this time by a third-round TKO. Gustafsson announced his retirement from MMA in June 2019.
