Jones (left) had difficulty getting past Gustafsson (right) at UFC 165. Photo: Disclosure
Jon Jones held his seventh defense of the UFC light heavyweight belt last Saturday (26), defeating Glover Teixeira in the judges' decision. Shortly afterwards, the North American organization already planned the champion's next fight, which will be against Alexander Gustafson.
UFC president Dana White said at a press conference that he is thinking about holding the fight at the challenger's home in Sweden. “This fight has the potential to be huge, and the audience would be huge depending on where we would do it. It's a huge fight. If we do it in Europe, it could attract 50 or 60 thousand people, or even more”, commented the director.
However, the event would have an unusual characteristic. Precisely to achieve the high number of sales of pay-per-view As expected in the United States, fights could be held in the early hours of the morning. “We would do it at the same time [as in the United States]. At some times of the year the day is clear most of the time, so we could do it around 4am [local time],” explained White.
In an interview with the “MMA Hour” podcast, Gustafsson said he approved the idea. “As far as I know, this is being discussed. If it happens, it would be a dream come true”, said the fighter, who believes that the early morning event would not detract from the public's interest. “It would be a very strange time to go to an event, but I think the interest in the sport is so great that it wouldn't be a problem,” he said.
The possible venue for the rematch would be the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm, which Gustafsson says is close to where he lives. The fight between Gustafsson and Jones will be a rematch of what was considered “Fight of the Year” in 2013. On that occasion, the American came out on top after five rounds of intense competition.
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