Jones' Next Fight: Gustafsson-Johnson Winner Will Provide Next Great Challenge

After beating one of the sport's best grinders at his own game at UFC 182 on Saturday, UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones can begin to shift his focus to his next obstacle: facing the winner of the Alexander Gustafsson-Anthony Johnson fight.

He'll certainly have several months to lick his wounds, but Bones won't have much time to savor the satisfaction of besting arguably his greatest nemesis, former Olympic freestyle wrestler and second-ranked UFC light heavyweight Daniel Cormier.

That's because on January 24, top-ranked former title challenger Gustafsson will lock horns with third-ranked Johnson in the main event of UFC on Fox 14 in The Mauler's home country of Sweden.

Regardless of who prevails between Johnson and Gustafsson in their title eliminator bout, either man will provide Jones with yet another arduous and perplexing challenge. Johnson (18-4) has won eight straight fights since getting his walking papers from the UFC in early 2012, and Gustafsson (16-2) has won seven of his last eight bouts, with his only loss coming to Jones at UFC 165.

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Gustafsson is widely considered the most complete fighter in the division, aside from Jones, and Johnson's wrestling base and potent striking game have helped him emerge as one of the sport's most dangerous athletes.

But the 27-year-old Jones, who already holds wins over five of the UFC's  current Top 10 205-pounders, sure looked like a man who is ready to take out the likes of Rumble and The Mauler against Cormier.

Jones not only scored on three of five takedown attempts, notching the first takedown ever against Cormier, but he also stuffed seven of the former Division I All-American wrestler's shots. In the stand-up department, Jones outstruck Cormier 126-78, including 92-58 in the significant strikes category. 

Despite Jones' impressive performance, Gustafsson, who lost a controversial unanimous decision to Jones in their only meeting in September 2013, claimed to be less than impressed by Bones' showing against Cormier.

Gustafsson was set to face Jones in a rematch for the belt in September at UFC 178, but he had to pull out of the fight in July after tearing his meniscus in his right knee during training. He TKO'd Jimi Manuwa in the second round of his last bout at UFC Fight Night 37 in March.

Vitor Belfort handed Johnson his last setback when he submitted him in his final fight of his first stint with the promotion at UFC 142 in January 2012. Since then, Rumble has beaten the likes of Jake Rosholt, Andrei Arlovski, Phil Davis and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

According to OddsShark.com, Gustafsson has opened up as a minus-248 favorite to best Johnson (+192).

 All stats provided by FightMetric.com.