Alexander Gustafsson wins over Glover Teixeira in Stockholm

Alexander Gustafsson mma news

MMA News: Alexander Gustafsson put on a brilliant performance in front of his countrymen in Stockholm.

Arguably the best light heavyweight in the UFC outside Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones, Gustafsson (18-4) dominated Glover Teixeira (26-6) in the main event of UFC Fight Night 109 on Sunday, getting one step closer to a third shot at the 205-pound belt.

Gustafsson started the fight active in the striking area, taking a page from Anthony Johnson’s books and landing vicious uppercuts on the Brazilian. The Swedish talent landed an unintentional eye poke late in the first round, and the referee rushed Teixeira to get back in the fight.

In between rounds, Teixeira told his cornermen in Portuguese he couldn’t “see anything,” but came back to the second round.

Gustafsson took control of the fight from that moment on, though, dropping Teixeira with a spinning elbow and punches. Teixeira came back, and was knocked down again by Gustafsson in the next round, but survived the scare. “The Mauler” continued to dominate the Brazilian, finally getting the finish 67 seconds into the final round.

“I hit him with bombs and he just took every shot,” Gustafsson said of Teixeira after the win. “He’s a great fighter. It’s an honor to fight him here in my hometown of Stockholm.”

Asked about getting another shot at the UFC championship next, against the winner of UFC 214’s Cormier vs. Jones, Gustafsson invited his girlfriend to the cage and proposed. A “yes” and a kiss capped off a perfect night for the 30-year-old fighter.

Two rising light heavyweight prospects met in the co-main event, and Volkan Oezdemir (14-1) scored another impressive victory in his short UFC run. Ranked at No. 5 in the official UFC ranking after defeating Ovince Saint Preux in his debut, Oezdemir stopped Misha Cirkunov (13-3) in just 28 seconds.

Cirkunov attacked early in the fight, forcing Oezdemir to walk backwards. When Oezdemir had his back against the cage, he surprised Cirkunov with a right hand that dropped him immediately, forcing the referee to stop the contest.

“That’s the second time people are not thinking about me, but, man, I’m here now,” Oezdemir said. “Count on me.”

“I come from nowhere and I made my way to the top by fighting top ranked guy, and I’m just gonna go do the same,” he added. “I’m gonna climb that ranking now.”

The Stockholm card featured three straight welterweight bouts in the main card, with Peter Sobotta, Omari Akhmedov and Nordine Taleb leaving the cage with their hands raised.

In the most exciting contest of the 170-pound match-ups, Sobotta (17-5-1) wasted no time and dropped Saunders (21-8-2) seconds into the bout, but Saunders went back up.

Sobotta, who knocked his opponent down once again in the final minute of the opening round, hurt Saunders with punches before stopping him once for all in the second round with a vicious jumping knee.

“I broke my hand in the beginning of the second round, so I was a little bit worried,” Sobotta revealed after the win, calling for a top 10 opponent next.

Adbul Razak Alhassan entered the Octagon with a perfect 7-0 record with seven first-round finishes, but Omari Akhmedov made him work.

Alhassan threatened standing, but the Dagestani welterweight put more pressure, countering his attacks standing and working on takedowns to get the split decision victory (30-27, 28-29, 30-27), improving to 17-4 in MMA.

Oliver Enkamp (7-1) entered the Octagon as a promising newcomer from Sweden, replacing injured Emil Meek on short notice against Nordine Taleb (13-4), and impressed early, throwing multiple spinning attacks in the first round.

The fight went on and Taleb slowly picked up the control of the action, countering the Swede’s attacks to win via unanimous decision after three hard-fought rounds (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

“It was a very risky fight for me because he’s very young, newcomer, and was very tough decision for me to take this fight,” Taleb said after the win. “But thanks for this guy. He took the fight, so he saved my night.”

Jack Hermansson (15-3) impressed in the main card’s opening bout, making quick work of Alex Nicholson (7-4). Hermansson went for a takedown right away, passing the guard to escape a guillotine attempt, took Nicholson’s back and landed hard punches until the referee stopped the bout.

“Give me a fight as soon as possible and don’t be afraid,” Hermansson said after the win. “Give me somebody ranked. I wanna get up there. I have high ambitions. I wanna be the best in the world, so give me the fights that can prove that I am.”

In the preliminary portion of the card, Damir Hadzovic (11-3) and Bojan Velickovic (15-4-1) scored impressive comeback victories, knocking out Marcin Held (22-7) and Nico Musoke (13-5-1), respectively, in the final round.

The prelims also included two decision wins for Brazilians talents, with Pedro Munhoz (14-2, 1 NC) defeating Damian Stasiak (10-4) via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28), and Joaquim Silva improving to 10-0 after a back and forth split decision win (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) against with Reza Madadi (14-6).

Also on the UFC Fight Night prelims, Trevor Smith (15-7) got the nod from the judges (30-27, 30-26, 30-26) after a lackluster clash with Chris Camozzi (24-13), and unbeaten Darren Tillreturned from a long layoff to improve to 14-0-1 in MMA with a unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) win over Jessin Ayari (16-4).

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