Last night, Dana White‘s Three-Headed Monster (Silva, Jones, GSP) avoided it’s second decapitation in 2013, but not by much. The Swedish warrior that the majority had written off must have had a bone to pick with the champ. Unlike most of the fighters fed to Dana’s monster, the Mauler was unimpressed and went about his business with aggressive in-and-out combinations.
Jones spent a large part of the first two rounds awkwardly attacking Gustafsson’s front leg. Nearing the end of round one, the Swede surprised the masses by being the first man in the octagon to take Jon Jones down. Throughout the course of the fight, Alexander neutralized Jones with his suped-up take down defense. Incredibly, he warded off 10 of 11 takedown attempts.
Before the start of round two, the camera revealed a gaping cut on Jones’ right eyelid. Throughout the second and third, Gustafsson seemed to get more comfortable. Jones mesmerized the crowd with a barrage of spinning kicks and elbows, but a majority of the flashy strikes failed to land cleanly.
As the fourth round unfolded, the Mauler continued to pepper the champ with combinations. The cut from round one began to pour into the right eye and down the face of the champion. It was near the end of the 4th however, that the momentum tipped back in Jones’ favor. When it appeared Gustafsson was ready to shift gears for another onslaught, Jones shot for a desperation takedown.
The scramble brought the fighters near the cage. As they separated, one of Jones’ signature spinning back elbows caught the top of Gustafsson’s forehead as he ducked. His head and neck jarred and he backed up on unsteady legs. Jones moved in for the kill, but somehow the Mauler survived a barrage of elbows. With seconds remaining, Jones had yet another takedown stuffed and was shoved to the canvas to end the round.
“He may very well have to finish Gustaffson to retain his title,” Joe Rogan remarked before the start of the fifth. “The big round for Jon is obviously the last one. That may be the only one he’s won,” he added.
Both fighters were bloodied and battered to start the final round. Gustafsson’s spring had finally gone out from his step. The champ threw several head kicks to try to close out the night, but Gustafsson still rallied back with his patented three punch combo. Jones’ only successful takedown finally came in round 5. The exhausted Mauler found the strength to scoot up the fence and clear himself of the takedown, but as the bell rang to end the round, it would not be enough.
The UFC didn’t show it’s viewers the official strike numbers after the fight. according to the embedded link to this ESPN article, Jones landed 134 significant strikes and Gustafson landed 110 over the course of 5 rounds. However, these stats include the 53 strikes to Gustafsson’s legs.
The pawing front kick that was used largely as a diversion tactic and rarely landed with impact has been deemed a “significant strike.” More peculiar than that, according to Bill Goldberg (who was apparently the only person that got to see the official stats), (round 4, 2:51) “Statistically, he has the lead. In over-all strikes, it’s Gustafsson.”
But according to the ESPN toll, Jones narrowly out-struck the Mauler every round. At 2:31 left in 4th round Goldberg said, “Over 120 significant strikes landed by the challenger.” ESPN’s chart shows Gustafsson only landed 110 strikes in the whole fight! What and where are the real numbers for this fight?!
The post fight interview revealed as much as the fight did. Jones’ face resembled Rocky after his first bout with Creed. There was also a hint of Big Ang from Mob Wives (Google it), as Jones’ upper lip had swollen to the size of a golf ball. His corner stuffed gauze in the gaping hole in his eyelid, but even that couldn’t mask the surprise on his face when the judges awarded him the fight.