When Alexander Gustafsson faced Jon Jones at UFC 165 back in 2013, he’d only lost once. An early-career submission to Phil Davis, in his second fight for the then-Zuffa promotion. After that loss, he went on a tear, submitting Cyrille Diabate and James Te Huna, KOing Matt Hamill and Vladimir Matyushenko, and taking decisions from Thiago Silva and Shogun Rua.
Then he gave Jon Jones what many consider to be the toughest fight of the former champion’s title reign. Some even say that Gustafsson won that fight and deserved the judges decision.