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“Smh they really jus tryna Kill Gus” – UFC Fans Voice Their Displeasure at News of Alexander Gustafsson’s Return

Published 02/02/2022, 8:19 AM EST

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Alexander Gustafsson is finally ready to make his return to the octagon. The former three-time light heavyweight title challenger will fight at UFC Fight Night 210 on May 21, 2022.

The Swedish mixed martial artist will take on a true MMA veteran in Ben Rothwell in a heavyweight clash. ‘The Mauler’ has been out of action since July 2020 and fans were eagerly waiting for his return. However, it came as a surprise too many that he decided to not return to 205.

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Having competed as a light heavyweight his whole career, Gustafsson made his heavyweight debut in his last fight. He took on the former UFC heavyweight champion, Fabricio Werdum, and lost the fight via submission in the first round. He was expected to return to action last year at UFC Fight Night 191, but had to withdraw due to an injury. Gustafsson was going to take on Paul Craig in a light heavyweight bout, so this is why the fight against Rothwell took them by surprise.

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Gustafsson is currently on a three-fight losing streak. He would want to put in a great performance against Rothwell to impress the top brass at the UFC. ‘Big Ben’ will also enter the fight on the back of a loss. He was at the receiving end of a brutal beat down at the hands of Marcos Rogério de Lima at UFC Fight Night 197 and lost the fight via TKO in the first round.

However the fight announcement saw most people be unhappy with it.

Twitter unhappy with Alexander Gustafsson vs. Ben Rothwell

Despite being one of the fan favorites, Gustafsson’s return is not getting as much love as expected. It is mostly because of him fighting again at heavyweight. He is not a natural heavyweight and looked out of place against Werdum.

Most of the MMA community didn’t like the announcement and took to Twitter to share their thoughts.

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One fan said, “The weight differential is too much and Gustafsson isn’t the fighter he used to be. Rothwell via finish and it won’t be competitive imo.”

One fan couldn’t help but notice the weight difference. They wrote, “This doesn’t look good for Gus… Ben will have like 40 pounds to his advantage.”

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“Smh they really jus tryna kill Gus at this point,” reacted another fan.

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MMA fans look quite unhappy about the matchup. What do you make of it? Will Alexander Gustafsson be able to return to his old form? Should he drop down light heavyweight again? Let us know in the comments!

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Written by:

Arunaditya Aima

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Arunaditya is a UFC writer at EssentiallySports. Having completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Multimedia Journalism from IIJNM, Arunaditya aspires to be an important voice in the world of MMA and interview the likes of Jon Jones, Conor McGregor, Amanda Nunes, and other such superstars of the sport. He has followed the sport for over a decade and is an ardent fan of Georges St-Pierre, who he believes is the greatest of all time.
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