Alexander Gustafsson has made his feelings known following the announcement of Daniel Cormier vs. Brock Lesnar.
The two-time title contender is expected to make his long-awaited return to the Octagon at the upcoming 227 pay-per-view event.
It was rumored that Gustafsson would take on former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold in a light heavyweight bout, which would have marked Rockhold’s move up from middleweight to the 205-pound division.
However, that is not meant to be as he suffered a shin injury that required surgery. Thus, Rockhold will be sidelined until the latter part of the year. Moving along, the Las Vegas-based promotion was seeking a new opponent for Gustafsson and found it as he will take on Volkan Oezdemir.
Gustafsson has won back-to-back fights since losing a close split decision to UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 192. In those fights, he scored a unanimous decision victory over Jan Blachowicz and knocking out Glover Teixeira.
Thus, these wins made some fight fans believe he should be next in line. However, he will have to wait for that as Cormier is slated to take on Brock Lesnar sometime in 2019. The belief is that DC could make a light heavyweight title defense before his fight with Lesnar but may not choose to do so.
During a recent interview on The MMA Hour, Gustafsson voiced his opinion that he should fight for an interim light heavyweight title while DC waits for a fight against Lesnar.
“They should do this fight for the interim title, it’s the No. 1 guy vs. the No. 2 guy,” Gustafsson told The MMA Hour (transcript courtesy of MMAMania). “If ‘DC’ makes up his mind and wants to come down, we can fight for the real title. He better let that belt go, he can’t sit on his throne and decide who’s fighting and who’s not. When I beat Volkan I’ll be the number one guy and the next fight is for the belt, that’s it.”
What are your thoughts on Alexander Gustafsson’s proposed idea? Sound off in the comment section.
