4. Alexander Gustafsson’s disappointing comeback
When news dropped [autotag]Alexander Gustafsson[/autotag] was coming back and moving to the heavyweight division, a lot of the excitement centered around how his striking and footwork would translate to the weight class. What we all seemed to forget, though, is none of that is useful on the ground.
[autotag]Fabricio Werdum[/autotag] certainly didn’t forget, and that’s why he wasted no time putting Gustafsson on the ground and finishing the Swede with the armbar. Now Gustafsson is on a three-fight skid dating back more than three years, and has been finished inside the distance in all three.
Gustafsson seemed to be in the right mindset pre-fight. He said his comeback following a surprising retirement in May 2019 wasn’t a one-off and he was here to stay, but it’s hard not to wonder if this result is going to change his mind. At 33, Gustafsson still has time on his side, but getting stopped in the first round by a 42-year-old Werdum will be tough to digest.
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There’s no shame in losing to Werdum, as the former UFC champ is still highly dangerous, especially on the ground. However, Gustafsson needed this win to set himself on a promising path in his new division. He can still recover from this and making a run, but there’s definitely a lessoned intrigue compared to when we hadn’t seen him fight there yet.
This is not the end of the road for Gustafsson if he doesn’t want it to be. We all know how talented a fighter he is, but he’s now 3-6 since his first memorable title encounter with Jon Jones in September 2013. He can only ride the wave of that fight for so long, and Gustafsson needs to start producing consistent wins if he still has ambitions to do anything truly significant in the sport.