Alexander Gustafsson lost his No. 1 Light Heavyweight contender spot when he went out with an injury prior to his scheduled title fight rematch with Jon Jones at UFC 178.
The UFC replaced Gus with Daniel Cormier, and the heated rivalry between Jones and Cormier quickly made that bout one of the most anticipated fights in UFC history. Add in the now infamous UFC 178 media day brawl, and that fight would have done astronomical pay-per-view numbers.
When Jones suffered an injury prior to UFC 178, the UFC postponed Jones vs Cormier until UFC 182 in January. Of course, Gustafsson was not pleased to hear this, as he himself would have been ready to fight for the belt in January.
Ultimately, Gus lost his place in line, and he is going to need to fight once more before getting a crack at UFC gold again.
In comes former UFC champion Rashad Evans, who noted at the UFC 178 post-fight show that he is very interested in a fight with Gustafsson upon his return to the Octagon.
“I would definitely like to fight him when I return,” Evans said adamantly. “I’ve been very impressed with how his development has gone. When I left, I was at the top and Alexander Gustafsson has been getting better with every single fight. Dana, set it up.”
According to MMAViking, Gustafsson has accepted Evans’ challenge, noting that he too would like to fight the former champion before year’s end.
While he likely won’t get the Evans fight until 2015, Gustafsson will have one more stiff test in front of him prior to getting his hands on either Cormier or Jones later on in the year.
