A confident and tactical Jon Jones beat Alexander Gustaffson in the third round to nab the vacated light heavyweight championship at UFC 232.
For two rounds, Jones kept Gustaffson at a safe distance with a barrage of lower body kicks, but in early into the third round, Jones took things to the mat. After some wrestling, Jones snaked himself behind Gustaffson and unleashed a flurry of hammering blows to the back of the Swede’s head, causing the referee to step in.
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“The goal is to finish this fight, and that’s what I’ll do. I’ll finish this fight.”@JonnyBones at the press conference on Thursday 😳 #UFC232 pic.twitter.com/oADLr4HxOq
— UFC (@ufc) December 30, 2018
Saturday was a sequel to 2013’s UFC 165 where Jones defeated Gustaffson via unanimous decision. While Gustafsson made the match closer than expected, Jones was simply too good as he was making his case to be known as the greatest fighter in UFC history.
Jones entered his rematch with Gustafsson as 3/1 favorite, despite being out of the Octagon for 15 months thanks to a suspension. That penalty came from a positive test for an anabolic steroid Turinabol. That all seemed like water under the bridge until traces of the same substance were detected ahead of UFC 232. However USADA ruled that it was remnants of his old use rather from a new dosage, but that didn’t keep UC being forced to move Saturday’s show from Las Vegas to California due to the controversy.
“Daddy’s home, DC.”@JonnyBones has words for his biggest rival. #UFC232 pic.twitter.com/rhS0GyY2qX
— UFC (@ufc) December 30, 2018
Even though he had the night off, heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier certainly made his presence felt. Not only was his vacated light heavyweight championship at stake but Cormier could find himself going toe-to-toe with the winner later in 2019. As the king of UFC, Cormier didn’t hesitate to blast Jones and UFC’s Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky for their shady decision-making ahead of UFC 232.
After Lance Armstrong—yes, that one—criticised UFC for moving forward with Jones despite his dirty urine, Cormier piled on with delight.
“This guy Jon Jones is such a dirt bag cheater that even Lance Armstrong is weighing in lol. Lance is like where the f— was Jeff when I was going through this shit lol. And boy how did Jones turn Jeff Novitzky into his old lady. This is the craziest s— I’ve ever seen. And now people sending me clips of this dude being arrogant at a press conference. That is one crazy negro! Jeff Novitsky-Jones lmao,” Cormier posted to Instagram.
