Alexander Gustafsson wants a rematch with UFC light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier, who he lost a split decision to in 2015. Unfortunately for the Swede, Cormier is currently stationed at heavyweight, where he recently captured the divisional title with a first round knockout of Stipe Miocic.
At present, it looks as though Cormier will defend his heavyweight title against Brock Lesnar sometime in the new year. That being said, he has also claimed that he’d like to drop back down to light heavyweight to defend that title in the meantime.
Gustafsson isn’t buying that story. He doesn’t think Cormier will return to the light heavyweight division, and he believes he’ll have to chase Cormier up to heavyweight if he wants to fight him again.
“It’s funny, it’s clear he doesn’t want to face me,” Gustafsson told MMANytt this week. “First of all he is never coming back down to 205, he is struggling to stay at heavyweight. DC is a big boy, as tall as he is wide. I don’t think he will go down again, he loves food and to eat.
“To sacrifice so much with dieting, food and then going down to face me – I think I will have to move to heavyweight to get a piece of Cormier again.”
Moving to heavyweight for a rematch with Cormier, as it turns out, is something Gustafsson would be willing to do. First, however, he needs to take out Swiss light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson, who he takes on at UFC 227 on August 4.
“Of course it’s frustrating – because [Cormier] has something I want. At the same time he moves up to heavyweight while keeping the belt. But at the same time, the hunt isn’t over. I have Volkan in my sights and I’m gonna defeat him.
“After that we will have to sit down and see what the next step is, I might continue chasing [Cormier]. If I need to move up to heavyweight to face him, I will. Let’s see what happens.”
Do you think we’ll ever see Alexander Gustafsson fight Daniel Cormier again?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/19/2018.