The UFC is looking to book a rematch to one of the greatest fights of all time, and I’ll give my thoughts on it in today’s MMA odds and ends.
UFC Targeting Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 2 For UFC 232
The UFC is looking to book the rematch between former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and rival Alexander Gustafsson at December’s UFC 232 card, according to a report from ESPN.com. UFC president Dana White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto in a text that he hopes to add this fight to the promotion’s annual year-end card, which is currently headlined by UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg vs. UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in a superfight. Obviously, Jones vs. Gustafsson would headline the card, and it would likely be for the interim light heavyweight title as champion Daniel Cormier is currently holding out hopes of fighting Brock Lesnar for his heavyweight title in early 2019. The rematch between Jones and Gustafsson would immediately become the most-anticipated fight of the winter season, as the first fight between these two back at UFC 165 in September 2013 was hailed as one of the finest displays of mixed martial arts of all time.
Jones (22-1, 1 NC) was recently given a short suspension from USADA and will be eligible to return to the cage at the end of October. The UFC wanted to book him in the main event of November’s UFC 230 card, but Jones isn’t in fight shape yet. Now 31 years old, Jones has barely fought the last few years, averaging about one fight a year since 2013. It’s been a massive fall from grace for the former long-time champion, who used to be one of the most active champions on the roster. Jones showed last year with his KO over Cormier at UFC 214 that he certainly has the potential to be the killer he once was, and now that he’s hopefully gotten this USADA saga off his chest he’s ready to return and get back to being the dominant fighter he once was. Gustafsson (18-4) has won back-to-back fights over Glover Teixeira and Jan Blachowicz to retain his spot as the top contender at 205lbs. He was supposed to fight Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 227 but pulled out with an injury. Now healthy, he wants the rematch with Jones and to show the fans that he should have gotten his hand raised the first time.
If the rematch does happen, the odds are going to be significantly closer than the first time these two fought, when Gustafsson was a huge underdog heading into the fight. Jones has barely fought at all and with all the uncertainty surrounding his drug tests it’s hard to completely trust him. That being said, he’s still arguably the greatest fighter of all time. If the rematch does come to be — and I hope the UFC can get this fight booked — I’d peg Jones as a three-to-one favorite, though if Gustafsson for whatever reason is a massive underdog again I’d be taking a long hard look at him.
