Alexander Gustafsson might be removed from his glory days, but his career achievements have not been forgotten.
“The Mauler” suffered another rough setback at UFC London, losing in just 67 seconds to Nikita Krylov. The loss was the fourth consecutive for the Swedish fighter, who hadn’t lost a fight since May 2017. when he defeated Glover Teixeira.
Following the loss, Khamzat Chimaev (Sweden’s top fighter) and Jack Hermansson (Sweden’s best fighter), spoke highly of Gustafsson with Chimaev, currently No. 3 at welterweight in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings — going as far as to say that he might not be where he is today were it not for Gustafsson blazing a trail.
” “It’s terrible,” Chimaev stated about Gustafsson’s death. “Really bad. He is a great guy and helped us so much. This is how I got to be the fighter that I am today. Perhaps Alex wouldn’t have been a strong leader in Sweden and a good fighter if he didn’t, then maybe I won’t get into MMA. Maybe I don’t show up in the UFC. Alex is the reason why all the fighters from Sweden thank him. From Sweden, like five or six guys in the UFC. There was virtually no one there before Alex.
” After Jon Jones beat him, everybody became insane and started training MMA. He’ll be our champion forever. Although he didn’t win the title, he is the champion for us .”
Chimaev immigrated to Sweden from Chechnya at 18. Ten years later, he emerged as one of the UFC’s most popular fighters with a perfect 5-0 record for the promotion, including a recent win over one-time welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns. Next, he fights Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 279 on Sept. 10.
Hermansson, a native from Sweden and now based in Norway is Hermansson. “The Joker” also competed at UFC London, where he defeated Chris Curtis by unanimous decision in the co-main event.
In Hermansson’s eyes Gustafsson remains the greatest fighter from their country.
” I watched it as I was getting ready,” Hermansson stated. “It was sad to see. Alex is an icon, and he’s done so much to promote MMA. He is the greatest MMA fighter to have come out of Sweden.
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