An unapologetic Dana White says that while Alexander Gustafsson has been the victim of a bad set of circumstances, he shouldn’t be blamed for giving Daniel Cormier the next shot at Jon Jones.
With the match between Jon Jones and undefeated challenger Daniel Cormier rescheduled for January 3 in Las Vegas, White believes that Gustafsson (who was originally scheduled for the September 27 main event against Jones but was forced to pull out because of his own injury) should fight again in the meantime.
“Gustafsson is upset, but it’s not like we took Gustafsson out of the fight. Gustafsson got hurt and he’s out,” White told UFC.com, fresh off a vacation in Bora Bora. “Cormier stepped in and accepted the fight and this is the fight that is going to happen now.”
As if White’s bold opinion couldn’t be any clearer, he continued to highlight it.
“The reality is we had Gustafsson versus Jones, he was the number one contender, that was the fight. He got hurt,” White continued. “He fell out of the fight. Well, people can say, ‘Now Jones is hurt.’ Well yeah, but this is the fight that’s happening now.”
While the UFC.com article mentioned Anthony Johnson as a potential opponent for Gustafsson, White wouldn’t commit to a specific opponent.
“Gustafsson will probably fight again. We’ll probably do another fight for him,” White said. “He’ll probably fight again to stay active, stay top of mind and the guy has to make money.”
