by King Hazard
UFC 165: Jones vs. Gustafsson took place last night at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada, drawing a crowd of 15,504 and a live gate of $1.9 million. Although I had mixed feelings throughout the entire night leading up to the 205-pound championship main event, I still can’t grasp how exciting the bout was between Jon Jones (19-1) and Alexandre Gustafsson (15-2).
It was so epic! Regardless, it went to a unanimous decision in Jones’ favor. The bout was actually nerve-wracking after the 2nd round because Jones usually dismantles all of his opponents by that round. It wasn’t the case for Gustafsson since he was able to stuff nearly all of Jones’ takedowns in every single round. In fact, Jones only scored one takedown in the 5th round after Gustafsson got hurt by spinning elbow at the end of the 4th that left him gasping for energy to recover. Overall, Gustafsson’s takedown defense was impeccable and he out-boxed Jones in most of the rounds. However, the Light Heavyweight Champion was able to keep up the pressure the entire fight, landing nasty elbows, knees, and high kicks. The main bout was so close that rounds 2, 3, or 4 could have been scored for either fighter, and the final result could be argued by many different factors.
Jones defended the strap for the sixth time, breaking Tito Ortiz’s long-standing record and making him the youngest champion to do so. Both fighters last night deserve all the recognition we can give them since they couldn’t even make the UFC 165 post-fight press conference because they went directly to the hospital after the bout. This was a first-time occurrence said UFC President Dana White in the opening of the presser. Personally, I think it shows how much heart went into this bout.
An instant rematch might be possible between Jones and Gustafsson, but Glover Teixeira (22-2) could get the next shot at the title. The UFC will most likely announce the decision in the very near future since it will take weeks for both fighters to fully recover.
Below are the rest of the results for the UFC 165 fight card.
UFC 165 MAIN CARD RESULTS
Jon Jones (c) def. Alexander Gustafsson – Decision (unanimous)
Renan Barão (ic) def. Eddie Wineland – TKO (spinning back kick and punches)
Brendan Schaub def. Matt Mitrione – Technical Submission (d’arce choke)
Francis Carmont def. Costa Philippou – Decision (unanimous)
Khabib Nurmagomedov def. Pat Healy – Decision (unanimous)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Fox Sports 1)
Myles Jury def. Mike Ricci – Decision (split)
Wilson Reis def. Ivan Menjivar – Decision (unanimous)
Stephen Thompson def. Chris Clements – KO (punches)
Mitch Gagnon def. Dustin Kimura – Technical submission
PRELIMINARY CARD
John Makdessi def. Renee Forte – KO (punches)
Michel Prazeres def. Jesse Ronson – Decision (split)
Alex Caceres def. Roland Delorme – Decision (split)
Daniel Omielańczuk def. Nandor Guelmino – KO (punch)
UFC 165 Bonus Awards ($50,000)
Fight of The Night: Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Knockout of The Night: Renan Barão
Submission of the Night: Mitch Gagnon
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