Doesn't matter how seriously Gus takes the fight. AJ is going to tag him early, gus will recover, and then AJ spends the rest of the fight wrestle fucking him. It'll be a boring fight outside of the first round but AJ wins this fight 4 out of 5 times.
Gus will then fight DC mid year and he'll have the best fight of his career and win.
AJ will fight Jon and Jones will stop him impressively.
Next year's NYE show will feature Jones/Gus II where Jones eeks out another victory in a five round war. Brutal fight that will send Gus into a career downward spiral.
They'll fight a third time long after their primes when the belts and the fame have long faded away.