Like most sequels, Alexander Gustafsson’s championship rematch against Jon Jones failed to live up to the hype of their original Fight of the Night and Fight of the Year epic at UFC 165.
This time, ‘The Mauler’ found himself on the receiving end of a mauling in the UFC 232 main event at Inglewood’s The Forum, a stark contrast to his gutsy performance against ‘Bones’ in 2013, which saw Gustafsson go the distance in a five-round, technical slugfest at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Gustafsson suffered a groin injury early in the rematch and, while not one to make excuses, the Swede said he had never felt pain like that in his entire career and was thus unable to fend off Jones’ ruthless ground-and-pound attack in round three.