Jon JonesvsAlexander Gustafsson
UFC 165 · September 21, 2013 · Light Heavyweight
Jones UD 5 rounds (contested)
The most competitive fight of Jones's career. Many neutral observers had Gustafsson winning.
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Setup
UFC 165 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Jon Jones entered as the LHW champion with 6 successful defenses; Alexander Gustafsson, the 6'5" Swedish kickboxer from Allstars Training Center, was the first opponent Jones had ever faced who matched his reach. Pre-fight expectations were Jones by stoppage in the championship rounds. Gustafsson was the most-dismissed challenger of the Jones era.
The fight
Round 1: Gustafsson scored a takedown — the first time Jones had been taken down in his UFC career. He held top position for 30 seconds before Jones got back up. The round was Gustafsson's by clean count.
Rounds 2-3: Gustafsson kept the fight at distance and outboxed Jones. The jab and cross combinations landed clean; Jones could not establish range with his usual oblique-kick game. Both rounds were Gustafsson's on most observer cards.
Round 4: Jones found his rhythm. The spinning back elbow landed flush on Gustafsson's eyebrow, opening a deep cut. Jones won the round.
Round 5: Jones pushed the pace, landed a clean head kick, and won the round comfortably on activity. The championship-rounds gas tank revealed itself: Gustafsson visibly slowed.
Decision: Jones won by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46). The 49-46 card was widely considered out of step with the fight; the 48-47 cards were the consensus.
What changed
The fight revealed that Jones was beatable. Specific takeaways:
- Jones's takedown defense had a hole: Gustafsson exploited the level-change to body lock combination
- Jones's distance management could be neutralized by a fighter with equal reach: previously, Jones had used his reach advantage as the defining weapon
- Jones's championship-rounds gas tank was the closer: rounds 4-5 won him the fight when the technical exchanges were even
Significance
UFC 165 is the fight that opened the conversation about Jones being beatable. Gustafsson lost the rematch at UFC 232 by 3rd-round KO, but the first fight remained the high-water mark of his career and the most-debated single Jones decision until UFC 247 (Reyes). The competitive nature of the bout also produced the broader analysis of Jones's style — what works, what doesn't, and what an opponent would need to do to actually beat him.