UFC on Fox 14 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from Gustafsson vs. Johnson
Could Alexander Gustafsson secure the rematch?
Even when Jon Jones isn't directly involved, he looms like Bald Mountain over just about everything that happens in the UFC these days, especially in the light heavyweight division.
So when Gustafsson laments answering the same questions about Jones over and over again, you nod your head in sympathy, if not complete agreement.
After all, it's a compliment. Back in 2013, Gustafsson gave Jones a better fight than anyone ever had. He took the champ five rounds and nearly took the decision before fading just enough to let Jones through the door.
And there's a twinge of understanding in your head nod. If Gustafsson were to dream about Jones, read the clippings or look too far ahead, he'd run the risk of looking right past a right hook from Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, Gustafsson's opponent Saturday night at UFC on Fox 14. Coming in, Johnson had taken eight fights in a row, five of them by knockout. He's probably the most feared knockout artist in his division and maybe beyond.
The winner Saturday gets the title match with Jones. How did it pan out in front of Gustafsson's home crowd of Stockholm, Sweden? Who did well and who came up short in the middle of the Swedish night?
There were 12 fights on the UFC on Fox 14 card, and as always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. Here are the real winners and losers from Saturday night's action.
Winner: Anthony Johnson
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Were you watching, Jon Jones?
Anthony Johnson cemented his shot at the UFC light heavyweight title—and his own greatness as a fighter—by knocking out Alexander Gustafsson in two minutes, 15 seconds in Stockholm.
A right uppercut started it. Gustafsson wobbled backward, and Johnson, smelling blood, swarmed, swinging those bowling balls after him. A few more connected, and Gustafsson slowly fell, like an old man settling down for a picnic at the park.
Referee Marc Goddard gave Gustafsson every chance to recover. Maybe too many chances. A few dozen hammerfists and ground strikes later, a huge Johnson punch snaked in under Gustafsson's armpit. The ricochet sent Gustafsson's head bouncing off the canvas, and the ref had seen enough.
Johnson may now need to be recognized as the most feared striker in the entire UFC. His punches and kicks are terrifying, and they stop fights.
"Jon Jones, I hope you get well soon, brother," Johnson told broadcaster Joe Rogan in the cage after the right.
If I'm Jones, I'm taking my time.
Loser: Alexander Gustafsson
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It was easy to feel for Gustafsson after the fight as he stood in the cage, waiting for Bruce Buffer to make it official and weeping into the neck of his T-shirt.
In front of 30,000 countrymen and with a monstrous rematch with Jones in the balance, Gustafsson simply fell victim to a force of nature.
"I got caught today," Gustafsson told Rogan. "That's what happened."
And how. Gustafsson is now 16-3 and 28 years old. He's at the highest level of his sport. He's getting better and will be back. It's just a shame that this is so often how fighters have to learn in MMA.
Loser: Dan Henderson
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The stoppage was controversial. Maybe it was a tick or two too early.
But that doesn't take away from the fact that Dan Henderson, 44, is no longer anywhere near the fighter he once was, and hasn't been for two years.
And yet, after a TKO loss to Gegard Mousasi, he appears farther away from retirement than ever, thanks to the controversial stoppage that threw the fight's outcome into some doubt.
Mousasi appeared to have Henderson rocked with a couple of right hands, but then he paused, and the referee jumped in to wave off the fight. Henderson protested, saying he was still able to fight.
Henderson has been on a marked decline since losing a split decision to Lyoto Machida in 2013. He's 1-5 in that stretch. Arguably, the decline began in 2011, following his epic win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.
The decline continued against Mousasi. And that's the saddest part about the stoppage. The controversy gives Hendo all the justification he needs to continue this ill-advised late stage of his career.
"He maybe clipped me a little bit, but I was aware the whole time," Henderson told Rogan in the cage after the fight.
That doesn't sound like someone pondering retirement. And it mirrors what he said before the bout. It's the sort of hard-headedness that made him the great athlete and fighter he was. But for Henderson, that hard-headedness now exists only in his mindset.
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Loser: Gegard Mousasi
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Let's be honest: A win didn't do much for Gegard Mousasi at UFC on Fox 14. At best, beating 44-year-old Henderson was a lateral move for the talented 29-year-old.
Now that it's all said and done, that first-round TKO actually might have ended up representing a baby step backward.
After the action was over, Mousasi told Rogan that "I stopped because he was already out." Mousasi also told Rogan that he thought Henderson had been cut inside his eye. Henderson's eye did appear injured, but the nature or extent of the injury was not immediately clear.
Nevertheless, onlookers questioned the stoppage as well as Mousasi. The boos rained down as he offered his verbal respect to the wildly popular Henderson.
It goes down as a win, but in the heat of the moment, it probably didn't feel that way to Mousasi.
Winner: Kenny Robertson
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Kenny Robertson was a slight underdog coming into his fight with Sultan Aliev. The Illinois native would need to grind one out and get a little lucky if he wanted to win, analysts noted.
He needed nothing of the sort. Robertson countered a spinning kick and landed a huge hook that put the Russian on the mat for good. It might have been the best win of Robertson's career, and if it hadn't been for Johnson rumbling through that main event, it might have earned a performance bonus.
Loser: Nation of Sweden
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When the main event started, it was around 3:30 a.m. Stockholm time. So it stands to reason that you'd want a little bit of return on that time investment.
But it didn't go the way of the tens of thousands of Swedish fight fans. Not only did Gustafsson lose in the main event, but Swedish fighters ended up 0-3 on the evening.
In the undercard main event, Nico Musoke lost a great fight to Russian up-and-comer Albert Tumenov. In the main event opener, Sam Sicilia rudely knocked out Akira Corassani in the first round. And then there was the main event.
The building was beautiful. The fans were in full voice. And Sweden is a wonderful country for MMA and in general. But this was surely not the way the locals drew this one up in their minds.
Loser: Late Injury Replacements
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This can't be stressed enough: You have to credit anyone who steps into the MMA cage, especially in the UFC, double-especially on short notice and triple-especially if it's his UFC debut.
So all credit to Paul Redmond and Anthony Christodoulou for doing what they did at UFC on Fox 14. Their respective opponents? Featherweight blue-chipper Mirsad Bektic and Chechnyan knockout artist Mairbek Taisumov.
Both came in as very heavy underdogs. And, well, both men delivered.
Redmond, usually a lightweight, missed weight by four pounds and looked flat in being ground-and-pounded into oblivion by Bektic.
Christodoulou looked even worse, appearing out of shape and thoroughly unprepared in a tail-kicking that mercifully ended with a knockout early in the second round.
Sometimes, the glass slipper fits. And you know what? Sometimes, it doesn't. Here's hoping the fighters get second chances for their own sake, because those were not good first impressions.
Loser: Joe Rogan
8 of 9I'm not one of these people who hates on Joe Rogan for sport. I think Rogan is, by and large, a good commentator. He knows his stuff. But he whiffed big time in Sweden.
In his very first UFC bout, Makwan Amirkhani notched one of the fastest knockouts in UFC history when he landed a flying knee on Andy Ogle to nab the TKO win in only eight seconds.
Rogan lauded the move but called the referee's stoppage "a bit premature." OK. Fair enough. Everyone has their opinions, and Rogan is paid to render his. (Check the video above and see what you think.)
Rogan went into the Octagon for his usual post-fight interview with the winner and pressed Amirkhani on the situation.
"The referee jumped in," Rogan said. "A lot of people thought the stoppage was premature, including me. What did you think about it?"
Amirkhani, clearly over the moon after the win of his life, responded by saying "my dream just came true when I met you."
But Rogan didn't let it go.
"It looked like Ogle was trying to grab you and recover...Ogle was upset," Rogan pressed. He then proceeded to essentially argue with Amirkhani, with the fighter ending the discussion by saying he couldn't control the referee.
Again, fair play to Rogan for doing his job and asking tough questions. Two things, though. First, "a lot of people," at least based on what I saw on social media, didn't find the stoppage premature. And even if there were and I wasn't aware of it, it's hard to know how Rogan gleaned this information in the time it took to walk from cage side to cage center.
Second, he ruined the poor guy's victory interview. You can make your point and ask your question without belaboring or belittling. And it's not like Rogan asks the tough question every time; he only seems to do so when he has a bee in his bonnet and the issue isn't politically controversial.
Again, I like Rogan. I really do. And at the end of the day, the whole thing would have been less jarring if more people did, indeed, share Rogan's opinion of the stoppage. But even Fox Sports 1 booth man and active UFC light heavyweight Daniel Cormier weighed in shortly after the fight in support of the referee's stoppage and perhaps in gentle opposition to Rogan.
"When you are attempting to wrestle the referee after the referee stops the fight, you are out," Cormier said, referencing a dazed Ogle's perception that the referee was Amirkhani. "I don't understand why these fighters complain. They are getting saved by the official. They are not getting cheated."
UFC on Fox 14 Full Results
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Main card
Anthony Johnson def. Alexander Gustafsson by TKO, 2:15, Rd. 1
Gegard Mousasi def. Dan Henderson by TKO, 1:10, Rd. 1
Ryan Bader def. Phil Davis by split decision
Sam Sicilia def. Akira Corassani by KO, 3:26, Rd. 1
Preliminary card
Albert Tumenov def. Nico Musoke by unanimous decision
Kenny Robertson def. Sultan Aliev by KO, 2:42, Rd. 1
Makwan Amirkhani def. Andy Ogle by TKO, 0:08, Rd. 1
Nikita Krylov def. Stanislav Nedkov by submission (standing guillotine choke), 1:24, Rd. 1
Mairbek Taisumov def. Anthony Christodoulou by KO, 0:38, Rd. 2
Mirsad Bektic def. Paul Redmond by unanimous decision
Viktor Pesta def. Konstantin Erokhin by unanimous decision
Neil Seery def. Chris Beal by unanimous decision
Scott Harris writes about mixed martial arts for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.
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