Swedish light heavyweight fighter Alexander Gustafsson last fought against Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith in a losing effort at UFC Fight Night 153. After being submitted in round four, the former two-time UFC title challenger chose to leave his gloves in the octagon, during which time he stated, ”the show is over guys.”
Now he is back for a no-gi grappling match, which will go down at AK Fighting Championship 3, where he will face Anton Turkalj, who is undefeated at 3-0 in MMA competition.
Gustafsson is 2-2 in his last four fights inside the UFC, where he defeated Jan Blachowicz via unanimous decision and knocked out Glover Teixeira in round five of UFC Fight Night 109’s main event in Stockholm. After losing two straight, he now has a record of 18 wins and 6 losses.
Gothenburg (Swedish) fighter Anton Turkalj made his professional MMA debut in December of last year, where he defeated Marius Pislaru via knockout just :32 into round one at RXF MMA 33.
Turkalj then met Filip Vujic at Fight Club Rush 4 in January of this year, where he also won via knockout. His third fight happened this past April, where he defeated Yulian Borisov via submission (rear naked choke) in round one at BM Fight Night 2. Then he just fought this past weekend on Oct. 12, and defeated Felix Polianidis via TKO at Excellence Fighting Championship 2.
After starting out his MMA career, Gustafsson racked up eight straight wins before making his UFC debut, which was a first round KO victory for the Swede. He would then go 6-1 in his next seven, granting him a title shot against Jon Jones. Though he lost the decision, many people feel he should’ve gotten the nod, but his career has unfortunately been riddled with injuries and long layoffs since.
‘The Mauler’ does have three wins via submission (all rear naked chokes) and is incredibly underrated in the wrestling and grappling department. He holds the rank of purple belt in BJJ, will this make Gustafsson want to get back in the octagon?
AKFC 3 will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Dec. 11. Who are you picking?
