Better late than never, right? After all the contractual talk, things have finally been settled and Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson II will go down on September 27 at UFC 178.
UFC officials announced the match-up on Thursday evening.
Jones (20-1) won the UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 128 in 2011 and has since defended his belt seven times. Most recently he earned a unanimous decision against Glover Teixeira at UFC 172 in April. Despite wanting to fight Daniel Cormier, “Bones” will step across the Octagon from Gus for the second time, as the two tangled to a decision at UFC 165 in September of last year.
“I think Cormier is the tougher fighter, but the fans want to see me fight Gustafsson,” Jones said in a statement. “There was never an issue with taking the Gustafsson fight. The issue was that my brother is getting married in July and I would have preferred a later date. I didn’t want to go this early and I would have preferred to go later in October or November. It is what it is. We have a date now, Sept. 27. This was a personal decision for me. I will be at my brother’s wedding and have a proper training camp.”
Gustafsson (16-2) was riding a six-fight winning streak prior to his loss to Jones. He held key victories over Thiago Silva, Mauricio Rua and most recently finished Jimi Manuwa via TKO at UFC Fight Night 37 in London.
UFC President Dana White stated, ““The great thing about this is we get Jones vs. Gustafsson, and if Jones beats Gustafsson, we get Jones vs Cormier. Two great fights in the light heavyweight division with three of the baddest guys in the world – the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world and champion Jon Jones and the No. 1 and No. 2 contenders.”
UFC 178 goes down from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on September 27.
