This past Saturday at UFC London, Alexander Gustafsson (18-8) made his return when he took on Nikita Krylov (28-9). It was the first time that Gustafsson had been in the octagon since July of 2020 when he fought Fabricio Werdum at heavyweight.
Gustafsson said that he was more motivated than ever heading into UFC London. He was returning to the division that made him a star and he was going right in to take on someone in the top ten of the rankings.
However, things didn’t go well at all for The Mauler. Gustafsson was rocked in the opening seconds and Krylov was all over him. Really, Gustafsson never got a chance to really get going in this one.
Just a little over one minute into the round, Krylov caught Gustafsson’s leg and then landed an uppercut. The uppercut send Gustafsson down to the ground and Krylov followed up with the finishing touches. Gustafsson lost by TKO at UFC London and was left devastated.
End of the UFC road?
Back in 2013, Alexander Gustafsson was given a shot at Jon Jones who at that point looked invincible. They fought at UFC 165 and Gustafsson was an impressive 14-1 at the time. While no one gave him a chance, Gustafsson put on the performance of a lifetime.
While he ultimately came up short on the scorecards, many believed that he beat Jon Jones. Gustafsson would get another title shot against Daniel Cormier at UFC 192 and lost a close split decision.
After that loss, he scored back-to-back wins over future UFC champion Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira. Those wins landed him another title shot against Jon Jones. However, this one wouldn’t go like the first. Jones got a TKO win in the third round.
Starting with that fight, Gustafsson has lost four fights in a row and all four came by stoppage. He just took two years off and looked even worse. While there’s been no word for him, the reality is that we might be at the end of his UFC journey.