Gus will sit

On September 21, 2013, at UFC 165 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Alexander Gustafsson made UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones look human. Jones won a unanimous decision, but a rematch was clearly in order.

Each had another fight, with Jones beating Glover Teixeira, and Gustafsson beating Jimi Manuwa. A rematch was scheduled at UFC 178 on Sept 27.

Jones had advocated for a fight with Daniel Cormier instead, but when the official announcement came, Cormier said he would roll with it.

“Just got word Jones is fighting Gustafson again in September,” Cormier posted on Instagram. “So I will enjoy this brownie, spend some time with my family and get my knee fixed.”

Then last month, Gustafsson injured his knee, and Cormier was brought in as a replacement. Early this month, Gustafsson had minor surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee, and began the rehab process.

Then early this week, Jones sprained his ankle and tore his meniscus, forcing the fight to be delayed until Jan 3. Jones undergoes surgery today.

Gustafsson was adamant that as he was the originally scheduled fight, and will be fully recovered by Jan 3, he, not Cormier, deserved the title shot in Jan. However, the heat between Jones and Cormier was such that the fight the fans wanted to pay for was with DC not “The Mauler” and, barring yet another injury, that is what the fans are going to get.

Now Gustafsson’s manager, Manos Terzitane, said Gustafsson will refused any fight but Jones.

“He will do whatever he can to not get passed by,” said Terzitane on UFC Tonight. “He will not accept any other fight than to be the next in line for the title against Jones.”

UFC president Dana White has long said that waiting around for a title shot is unwise, but in this case, Gustafsson is not likely to face much pressure to fight in the interim, unless something else weird happens.

Something else weird will probably happen.