Alexander Gustafsson Plans To Beat Anthony Smith & Stay Active In 2019
Alexander Gustafsson has big plans for this year, and it all starts with his next fight this weekend.
“The Mauler” goes up against former title contender Anthony Smith. They are slated to meet in the headliner of the UFC Stockholm show. Gustafsson is fresh off a loss to Jon Jones with the vacant UFC light heavyweight title being on the line at UFC 232. He earned this title shot with a stoppage victory over Glover Teixeira in 2017.
The title contender has built up a reputation of being inactive, but that will all change in 2019. Gustafsson made it known in a recent interview with Luke Thomas on “The MMA Hour” on Monday that he’s tired of waiting around. Thus, he wants to fight up towards three times this year:
“I’m just going to go through Anthony Smith, I want to get that W, beat him, and just look for the next challenge basically. And I want it fast, I want the next fight really fast. Just like, stack them up and go through them one by one, and see what the future brings.”
“I don’t know. There’s no guarantees,” Gustafsson said of the possibility of staying busy in 2019. “If I can, that would be perfect. I’m satisfied with three. If I get two—I definitely want more than just this fight, I’m looking for another fight quick and if I get three fights this year I would be really satisfied.”
UFC Stockholm (also known as UFC on ESPN+ 11) is set to take place on Saturday, June 1, 2019 at Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden.
