Rua vs. Gustafsson winner to get next shot at Jon Jones

Sorry Lyoto Machida and Dan Henderson (especially Henderson), it appears that both of you will be passed over for a title shot as Dana White has announced that the winner of Saturday’s showdown between Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Alexander Gustafsson will be crowned as the #1 contender and be next in line to face Jon Jones, should he get past Chael Sonnen in April. 

The announcement came during the UFC on Fox 5 press conference and may ruffle the feathers of Henderson, who was forced to pull out of his title fight with Jon Jones due to injury and watch as he’s been passed over not once, but twice. However, as always, things can change. 

“Unless there’s some crazy (expletive) that happens, which always does,” UFC President Dana White said. The way this year has gone, nobody should be surprised with White’s comments. But White is pretty clear that the winner of this fight will be next for Jones as he feels Shogun has done more than enough to warrant a shot should he beat the fast rising Gustafsson. “Look at the fights Shogun has had in his past two or three fights. He is the gatekeeper right now to that title,” White said. This means that a Gustafsson win would be all the more impressive and shoot him right to the top of the 205 division. “If Alexander can beat Shogun, he’d get the shot. Shogun wins, he gets it.”

We wouldn’t hang on to White’s words too much, though. Crazier things have happened.