Many were hoping to hear UFC President Dana White tell them that UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones would be in a super-fight in his next match-up. However, Jones seemed to have different plans when he told the media at the UFC 159 post-fight press conference that he wants to fight Alexander Gustafsson.
“I’ve fought Lyoto Machida before. I fight for the people that support me, but I also fight to prove critics wrong. A lot of people believe that I have been successful because I appear to be larger than my opponents. And with Alexander Gustafsson that would be no more. So fighting Alexander Gustafsson, a guy who is 6’6″ or 6′.5 pretty long arms himself, long legs ; I think that would be a great thing and that is who I’d love to fight next.”
Gustafsson is on a six-fight winning streak, with his most recent victory coming at UFC on FOX 5 this past December when he dominated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
White told Machida that he would be next in line to fight for the light heavyweight title following his split decision victory over Dan Henderson at UFC 157 earlier this year. As Jones said, he has fought Machida before and in that fight “Bones” choked “The Dragon” unconscious in a standing guillotine.
After Jones mentioned his hopes to fight Gustafsson, White gave his insight on the potential bout.
“We’ve got to see what happens with Jones, how long he’s going to be out, and we’ll go from there.”
