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Alexander Gustafsson briefly considered retirement, but says fighting is 'all I can do'

Shortly after being knocked unconscious by Anthony Johnson in January in front of 30,000 of his hometown fans, Alexander Gustafsson found himself in a bad place.

In a fight that he absolutely couldn’t lose, he lost.

Gustafsson is from Arboga, Sweden, which lies 95 miles west of the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm – the arena where the fight with Johnson took place.

Those 30,000-plus in attendance were there to see one man, and one man only. And he let them down.

Gustafsson, 28, was so shaken by the devastating knockout that he contemplated retirement.

“I was supposed to win this fight, but I didn’t,” admitted Gustafsson to MMAJunkie back in June. “I was thinking about that: To quit the sport. I was really depressed after the fight.”

That was a startling revelation for a fighter to make – especially one with such a high standing in the sport, and with such a presumably large paycheck to go along with it.

Jon Jones kicks Alexander Gustafsson in the face during their UFC 165 fight. (Getty)
Jon Jones kicks Alexander Gustafsson in the face during their UFC 165 fight. (Getty)

In the fight world, an admission like that could also be perceived as mental weakness.

And in the fight world, mental weakness or even the impression of mental weakness could be your proverbial death knell.

However, there is also a certain power that comes with that honesty – if you’re truthful 100 percent of the time, then no one can accuse you of being a liar.

And the truth of the matter is that Alexander Gustafsson is a fighter who knows nothing else.

“No, not at all,” Gustafsson said to Yahoo Sports when asked if he regretted opening up about his feelings about retirement. “It’s hard for me to look back at [and see] if I really would have done it. I said it in emotions. If I really felt it, I felt it at the time. But today, this is all I got. This is all I can do. I don’t know what else to do.

“But here I am today, fighting for a championship, and it all worked out.”

It certainly has worked out for the Swede.

On Saturday, the former title challenger finds himself on the cusp of UFC gold once again, when he meets Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 192 in Houston, Texas.

Cormier, a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, will be defending his title for the very first time after winning it from the man who knocked out Gustafsson.

This is as close to a hometown advantage as Cormier has ever had with his hometown of Lafayette just three hours east of the Toyota Center in Houston.

And that same pressure Gustafsson was feeling back home in Stockholm is now Cormier’s to deal with.

“All the pressure is on him,” Gustaffson said. “He’s the champion; he’s got that belt. He’s fighting in front of his home crowd.

“I’m here in the United States and I’m challenging him. I’m coming here as the underdog, and he has other stuff he has to worry about.”

This will be the second time Gustafsson has challenged for a UFC championship. He first fought for a title in Sept. 2013 when he lost a razor-close unanimous decision to Jon Jones at UFC 165. It was the toughest fight in Jones’ 22-fight career and it is still widely regarded as one of the greatest fights in UFC history.

Anthony Johnson, left, throws a punch at Alexander Gustafsson in January. (Getty)
Anthony Johnson, left, throws a punch at Alexander Gustafsson in January. (Getty)

Before his fight with Jones, Gustafsson was an impressive 15-1 and on a six-fight win streak over solid competition.

Heading into the Cormier fight, though, the story is a bit different.

Gustafsson’s last fight was the knockout loss to Johnson in Sweden. Yet, here he is fighting Daniel Cormier for a UFC championship.

This has understandably raised the collective eyebrow of critics and naysayers who claim that a fighter coming off a loss has no business being in a UFC title fight.

Even Cormier got in on the action at a recent press conference, where he poked fun at Gustafsson and his ‘best wins.’

Essentially Cormier was mirroring what others have been saying over the last few months: Alexander Gustafsson should not be fighting for the UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 192.

“What am I supposed to do, not take the fight?” Gustafsson asked. “I don’t know what to say. There’s only one thing I can say: Everybody wants to be the champ. That’s why we do this: to put that gold around our waist. This is an opportunity and I won’t turn down an opportunity like this – it doesn’t grow on trees.”

Neither does money.

And if Gustafsson can get past Cormier this Saturday, he’ll be seeing a huge increase in both.