A potential UFC light heavyweight title rematch between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson is no more -- thanks to a former welterweight.
Anthony Johnson (19-4), who once competed in the UFC's 170-pound division, scored an upset TKO against Gustafsson on Saturday at Tele2 Arena in Stockholm. Referee Marc Goddard called a stop to the 205-pound contest at 2:15 of the first round after Gustafsson couldn't defend himself from strikes on the floor.
The win sets up a future date between Johnson, who fights out of Boca Raton, Florida, and defending champion Jon Jones.
Jones (21-1) defended his title against Daniel Cormier earlier this month in Las Vegas. Shortly after the fight, it was announced Jones tested positive for cocaine during a random drug test in December. The 27-year-old champion briefly checked himself into a drug treatment center after the news broke.
"Jon Jones, get well brother," Johnson said. "Let's get this championship on and make the fans excited about this."
Immediately after the result of the fight, Jones posted via social media: "Wow."
The finish began with a counter right hand by Johnson, off a Gustafsson (16-3) head kick. The punch dropped the Swede, but he managed to pop up and retreat from one side of the cage to the other. A series of uppercuts, however, dropped Gustafsson again and he eventually succumbed to hard punches from Johnson on the canvas.
"I felt great coming in here and I felt great during the couple minutes we fought," Gustafsson said. "I felt great all the way, he just caught me. I got caught today."
The UFC had attempted to book Jones vs. Gustafsson in September last year, but Gustafsson was forced to withdraw from the title fight due to a knee injury. To date, Gustafsson has provided Jones the most difficult test of his career, dragging the champion into deep waters during a five-round title fight in September 2013. Jones won via unanimous decision.
Cormier replaced Gustafsson in the fight against Jones, which was ultimately postponed until Jan. 3 due to an injury to Jones.
Coming into the contest, Gustafsson was a 3-to-1 betting favorite against Johnson and had won seven of his last eight.
"Alex did everything I thought he was going to do," Johnson said. "He's an amazing athlete. I feel bad just cause he's crying right now. I'm emotional guy and I feel his pain."
Gustafsson looked to establish his height and reach advantage on Johnson by sticking to the outside and peppering him with his jab. He landed a few outside leg kicks as well, while managing to get out of the way of a wide right hand by Johnson.
Less than two minutes into the bout, Gustafsson caught Johnson with an accidental eye-poke. Goddard paused the bout to allow Johnson to regroup. On the restart, Gustafsson attacked immediately with a head kick, which Johnson countered with the big right hand.
It is the 13th knockout win of Johnson's career. The 30-year-old fought in the UFC's welterweight division from 2007 to '11, but repeatedly struggled to make weight. The UFC released Johnson in January 2012, after he failed to make weight for a middleweight bout against Vitor Belfort. The fight took place at a catchweight; Johnson lost in the first round.
In August 2012, Johnson made the decision to move full time to light heavyweight. He has gone 7-0 in the division since. He has earned dominant wins against Phil Davis, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Gustafsson since the UFC re-signed him last year.
The title eliminator bout against Gustafsson had originally been set to take place at a UFC on Fox card in December, but the UFC suspended Johnson in September after news reports surfaced a woman had filed a criminal complaint against him in Florida. Johnson was reinstated after all charges against him were dropped one month later.
Hendo slide continues
A move back to the middleweight division did little to halt the recent free fall of Dan Henderson -- although there is some controversy around his latest performance.
In his first fight at 185 pounds since 2010, Henderson (30-13) suffered a TKO loss to Gegard Mousasi a mere 70 seconds into the first round. It is his fifth loss in six fights.
Referee Leon Roberts waved off the bout shortly after Mousasi (36-5-2) clipped Henderson with a stiff right hand in the center of the cage. Henderson's knees buckled from the shot and he eventually fell backward into a seated position on the fence. Mousasi followed him to the floor and landed one left hand before Roberts stepped in.
Henderson, who had been competing as a light heavyweight, protested the stoppage. He had clasped onto Mousasi's left leg at the time Roberts stepped in.
"It wasn't Gegard's fault; he fought a good fight," Henderson said. "I got hit and I couldn't see very well out of my left eye. He just clipped me a little bit. But I was aware of it the whole time. But it's not his fault; he's a good guy."
The brief contest managed to have its share of awkward moments. Early on, Mousasi landed a punch that opened a small cut near Henderson's left eye. In a somewhat rarely seen move, Mousasi then alerted Roberts of the cut mid-fight.
Based on Mousasi's reaction, Henderson later admitted he feared the cut was worse than it actually was. He aggressively came forward at that point, trying to land his signature right hand while searching for range with his left arm outstretched.
Mousasi, 29, calmly backed up and landed the hard straight right that staggered the former Strikeforce and PRIDE champion.
The 44-year-old Henderson has now been finished in three of his last four fights. He suffered a first-round knockout loss to Belfort in a 205-pound contest in November 2013. In May, he was forced to submit to a rear-naked choke in a one-sided loss to Daniel Cormier.
Fighting out of Southern California, Henderson had stated that win or lose Saturday, he would continue his 17-year professional career.
Mousasi improves to 2-2 since dropping to the middleweight division early last year. He submitted Mark Munoz at a UFC Fight Night event in May, but struggled against top-tier talent in losses to Lyoto Machida and Ronaldo Souza.
Bader edges Davis
In a pivotal light heavyweight contest, Ryan Bader managed to edge Phil Davis via split decision.
Bader (19-4) earns arguably the most significant win of his career -- perhaps by the slimmest margin. Judges Mans Nilsson and Andy Roberts scored the 205-pound bout for Bader, 29-28. Judge Mark Collett had it 29-28 for Davis.
The outcome might have come down to the final 10 seconds, during which Davis (13-3) rushed Bader with a takedown attempt, failed to convert and ended up getting slammed. Bader's takedown defense was a major story throughout, as he stuffed all nine of Davis' takedown attempts, according to Fightmetric.
The Swedish crowd didn't hold back on expressing its lack of interest in the bout, as the two former collegiate wrestlers struggled to assert themselves on the feet. Davis utilized the entire space of the Octagon, working in and out on Bader and often circling away from the power-puncher's right hand.
The most significant strike of the night came in the third, when Bader landed a left hook after stuffing a Davis double-leg that immediately caused swelling under his opponent's right eye. The left hook was by far Bader's most useful weapon, but he had trouble consistently working inside Davis' kickboxing range to land it.
Davis mostly answered Bader's boxing with leg kicks. In the second round he landed a clean left head kick that Bader wore well in the center of the cage. His constant failed attempts to get the fight to the floor might have cost him in the judges' eyes, however, as he never even came close to bringing Bader down besides briefly late in the middle round.
According to immediate cageside stats, Davis landed 51 total strikes compared to 29 for Bader. The punches Bader landed appeared to do more damage to Davis, however, and he outscored him in takedowns, 1-0.
Bader, 31, extends his win streak to four. Davis, who had his eyes on a title shot after winning four of his last five, drops to 1-2 in his last three contests.
Sicilia slices through Corassani
Fighting in a hostile environment, featherweight Sam Sicilia earned a much-needed victory over Akira Corassani with a first-round knockout.
Sicilia (14-5) knocked Corassani out cold with an overhand right at 3:26 of the opening round. He landed one more follow-up shot on the ground before referee Neil Hall could save Corassani.
It is Sicilia's third win by knockout in the Octagon and perhaps the most significant win of his career. Coming into the fight, the 28-year-old had hit a rough patch, going 2-4 in his last six.
"That's the most comfortable I've ever felt in the Octagon," Sicilia said. I really felt I had it together this time."
It was a relatively clean fight for Sicilia, who managed to stay out of harms way despite several early exchanges. The two feathers traded left hooks very early on, before Sicilia tied Corassani (12-6) up in a clinch near the fence.
Corassani struggled to find his range against the counter-punching Sicilia, often times coming up just short on his winging punches. He opened himself to plenty of counter opportunities, but it was actually a step-in right uppercut by Sicilia that started the beginning of the end for Corassani.
After stunning his Swedish opponent with the shot, Sicilia pushed him an arm's length away with the left before following with a crushing overhand right that landed flush near Corassani's temple.
It was not a shocking result for Sicilia. Seven of his eight career knockout wins have come inside the first round.
A contestant on "The Ultimate Fighter 15" reality series, Sicilia improves to 4-4 in the UFC. Corassani, 32, suffers his third consecutive knockout loss.