Top UFC light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson has shown tremendous improvement at Eric Del Fierro’s Alliance MMA. Thus the news that he was moving his camp to his native Sweden came as a surprise to many
In an interview with the Swedish language site aftonbladet.se Gustafsson explained that “it’s time to come home.”
A further factor is Phil Davis.
In 2010 at UFC 112, Gustafsson was outwrestled by Phil Davis, and suffered his first loss. Determined to improve his wrestling, he headed West, all the way to Alliance Gym in San Diego, CA, where Davis trains.
The move proved to be a tremendous success, and in his last fight Gustafsson outwrestled Jon Jones, something no fighter had accomplished before. However, with a loss Jones, an obvious next fight was a rematch with Davis, who has become a friend.
“It’s time to come home,” said Gustafsson, via google translate. “Now I’m in the stage of my career where I will compete three or four times a year so I cannot go off all the time. It costs too much and it takes too much time away from my family. It’s simply not worth it.
“I might as well get used to having the whole training camps here in Sweden and create the routine here. Unlike before, now I am in a position that I can fly in the quality sparring partners I want.
“It’s been hard (training away from home), it has,” said Gustafsson. “Hard training every day and then being away from their loved ones take its toll . But at the same time it has given me focus.
“(Davis and I) do not train with each other as much anymore. We are both top fighters, and its not hard to guess that we’ll meet again soon. It’s not a dream match up because we are friends, but the UFC decides that we should fight, so it feels better to not train together right now.”
in an exclusive interview with Kimura.se, Alex’s head coach, owner of Allstars Gym Andreas Michael, says that the move does not mean that Gustafsson is severing ties with Alliance, and that stories saying he was were simply being sensationalistic.
Andreas said that the partnership between the Alliance and Alex/Allstar Fitness will continue for a long time to come. Thoughts on finishing the fine relationship that the two clubs have between them does not exist and has never existed.
Rumors of a bout between Davis and Alex are just something the media created out of thin air. Alex and Davis would meet in a possible title match, unless each was offered a purse in the millions.
Read entire article… (original Swedish)
