Jimi Manuwa has made inroads to establish himself as the No. 1 contender for the winner of the upcoming title clash between champion Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones. As a training partner of Gustafsson’s, the Brit has underlined that he has no interest in fighting him again. Similarly, ‘Posterboy’ has also highlighted that he will not agree to fight Teixeira after he claimed the Brazilian turned down an opportunity to fight him in Brooklyn earlier this year.
Jones has been the key component in the current log jam at light heavyweight. It began when he was forced out of his UFC 187 showdown with Anthony Johnson due to his alleged connection to a hit-and-run accident in Albuquerque. The controversial former champion was fined and suspended for six months, but after returning to the win column against Ovince St. Preux at UFC 197, he was famously pulled from the UFC 200 card at the eleventh hour due to a reported USADA violation.
As far as Teixeira is concerned, there’s no real point in thinking about what could be next for him if his hand is raised on Sunday night.
“[Jones] messed up the organization a little bit with the way that everything happened,” Teixeira said.
“He was out and now he’s going to be coming back, but who knows if he will come back? We already expected him a few times and he pulled out very late for different reasons.
“Honestly, I don’t even think about what comes after this. I can’t care about it. All I have to think about is getting ready for Alex.”
The Jones that faced Teixeira at UFC 172 was in his prime, beating the Brazilian at his own game. Considered by many to be the greatest mixed martial arts fighter that ever graced the Octagon, Jones’ tentative return bout against ‘OSP’ showcased a very different fighter, void of the creation and expression that was a hallmark of his first title run.
Cormier was penciled in for a rematch against the returning Jones at UFC 197, but a foot injury allowed St. Preux to step in.
Teixeira, like many others, is adamant that Cormier would have won that night if he had made it to the Octagon. For that reason, a lot of fans believe that ‘Bones’ is returning to the title fray too quickly at UFC 214, after a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
“We’re going to have to wait to see what Jon is like when he comes back,” said Teixeira.
“If he fought Cormier the night he fought OSP he would have lost, but who knows? Maybe he saw what he looked like the night he fought OSP and didn’t like what he saw.
“Jon Jones is a true champion, I think he would learn a lot from that last fight and make changes ahead of his rematch with Cormier. If he fights like he did against OSP, it will be a bad night for him against Cormier.”
As the hometown hero, there is a lot of expectation on Gustafsson’s plate on Sunday night, especially when you consider his last outing in Stockholm -- a brutal knockout at the hands of Johnson that stunned the Swedish capital’s 30,000-seat Tele 2 Arena into silence in the early hours of a January morning.
Despite his very public fall from grace that night, Teixeira is unsure whether the loss to Johnson still plays on the Swede’s mind.
“It’s very hard for me to say that. It all depends on the person and what kind of fighter they are. Maybe it could affect him. I really don’t think it would affect me too much. It’s up to him, if he keeps on thinking about that fight and keeps on focusing on getting that win back, maybe it would affect him.”
There are plenty of reasons to be excited about the meeting of two perennial light-heavyweight contenders on Saturday night, despite their path to the title being slightly obscured at the moment.
Even though Teixeira doesn’t have a bountiful amount of challengers on the horizon should he take the win over Gustafsson, don’t expect him to join in on the great MMA trend of 2017 in his post-fight interview by calling for a boxing bout.
“Will I ask for a boxing match if I win?” he laughed as he clarified the question.
“I don’t know man, everybody is after that money. Everybody is looking at the reports that Conor [McGregor] will make $70 million for his fight with Floyd [Mayweather Jr.]. It’s simple. They want that money too.
“I want that money too. Fighting (Anthony) Joshua for $50 million, why not, right? Maybe if I made the request and they gave me that fight, I guess maybe then.
“There are so many people calling for boxing fights, but I feel like its just too much talk. It’s all for money.
“I think I have to focus on becoming a champion first and then maybe we can see what’s happening with those kinds of things.”