News Alexander Gustafsson vs Ben Rothwell is confirmed on May 21

Weird match up.

Big Ben is old and slow as fuck, even tho Gus is passed it he should have enough power at HW to put Rothwell away pretty handily
 
Gus frustrates me. I really like the guy and he has wins over the past two LHW champs. I just feel for whatever reasons he does not like fighting. He rarely competes, is 35 and has been a part time fighter for the last 7 years. Ideally, he cuts down to LHW and takes 1 more run at the belt. He could fast track to a rematch with Glover. I will watch him, I just hope his twilight era is eventful.
 
Gus frustrates me. I really like the guy and he has wins over the past two LHW champs. I just feel for whatever reasons he does not like fighting. He rarely competes, is 35 and has been a part time fighter for the last 7 years. Ideally, he cuts down to LHW and takes 1 more run at the belt. He could fast track to a rematch with Glover. I will watch him, I just hope his twilight era is eventful.

I hear you. Me being one of the prime Gus nuthuggers in all of the world has had the same feeling for a long time.
 
I thought Gus was better served to drop back down to LHW, with Jones moving up to HW. Gus has already beaten the last two LHW champs- Glover and Blachowicz in his career. Not sure this is the right move for him. Maybe he just hates cutting weight now.
 
Funny, I just posted in the Kharitonov thread and Gus always reminded me of him - a very well rounded, blonde haired big man that had very good boxing, very high expectations, but never put it together. Like Kharitonov, Gus is probably best remembered for his close loss to a very elite guy in DC and Jones, like Kharitonov's loss to Big Nog. I dont think anyone expected post his loss to Jones that Gus would go 3-5......championship seemed imminent for him but that boat has sailed.
 
Wasn't that after the Vera fight? I can see this being similar. Alex outpoints him due to an age/speed advantage then Ben finally lands one big haymaker.

was that the fight where he was losing but then he started doing that self motivational dance in the octogon and started landing shots and won?
 
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The decline of Gus has been sad to watch. Arguably beat prime Jones and DC. Biggest what if in the sports history.
Don’t know about the ”what if” in MMA, certainly not in sports history. But it’s been tough to watch.

He dominated Teixeira, too. That was probably the best he’s looked in the octagon. I hope he comes back strong and uses his speed and movement to get the W against Big Ben.
 
If big Ben dances over Gus's dead body sending him off into retirement, it'll be the greatest night in the history of our sport.
 
Alex should go back to LHW. Alex vs Big Ben is an intriguing fight but also very confusing. Seems like a weird matchup to me.
 
I'm still like "wow, it's random fight announcement day."
 
Seems like a tough stylistic matchup for Gus but we haven’t exactly seen great things from Ben in a while so I’m kind of on the fence about this one. If Alex shows up in the best shape he can and Ben’s fallen off a lot I could see Alex pulling off a dec but it seems like it will be an uphill battle.
 
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