Alexander Gustafsson Feels Improved, Confident Heading Into UFC 127 Fight Card

On Saturday night, Ion Television will air two preliminary bouts in anticipation of the main card action from UFC 127 in Sydney, Australia.

One of the men set to step inside of the world famous Octagon hails from Stockholm, Sweden. A country that is widely known for producing talented strikers and UFC light heavyweight Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson (10-1-0) is no different.

Gustafsson made his organizational debut at UFC 105 and did so in impressive fashion by knocking out Jared Hamman in the first round. Five months and seven pay-per-views later, “The Mauler” would return to the Octagon against the very talented Phil Davis. At the time, the biggest chink in Gustafsson’s armor was his wrestling and ground skills, which just so happened to be Davis’s strong suit.

Davis dictated where the fight took place that night and gave Gustafsson his first professional loss, however, that fight would play a huge role in the Swedish fighter’s preparation for his next trip to the Octagon. Six months after the loss, he faced Cyrille Diabete, who was riding a six-fight win streak and had burst onto the scene in the UFC with a devastating first-round technical knockout of Luis Cane.

Having learned from his lone career loss, Gustafsson decided to seek out the tutelage of Alliance MMA Head Coach Eric Del Fierro and Davis himself. The move would pay dividends, as he showed a vast improvement in his overall skill set by taking Diabete to the canvas, where he would earn a second-round submission.

Gustafsson knew something needed to be changed and the high-level coaching and training partners at Alliance have him feeling more complete than ever.

“It’s very good for me and when I lost (to Phil Davis), I felt like it was something that I needed to do. My coach (Andreas Michael) and I, decided to make some changes and we came here,” Gustafsson explained. “They’ve done a lot for me. They are really good with wrestling and their striking is also really good and it’s great for me. I feel like I’m much better in each discipline now, I have a higher level of fighting, I’m more complete, and I’m taking it very serious.”

He will take that seriousness and unite it with excitement when he faces James Te Huna on Saturday night. The two fighters know one another from an event that was held in Dubai when they were still climbing the ranks to get into the sports' premier organization and Gustafsson feels it has the makings to be a great.

“When I heard about it, I was very excited because we fought in the same event in Dubai a long time ago before we were in the UFC, so I know him a little bit. He’s a good freestyle fighter, he likes to wrestle and strike and he’s a very powerful fighter too,” he said. “I feel that this fight is going to be great and it will probably go a little longer, so my plan is to strike him out and hit his chin as soon as possible.”

If Plan A goes out the window, there is no need to panic as Gustafsson now feels confident as a complete mixed martial artist and he would like to put those world class skills on display three to four times in 2011, and that all starts against James Te Huna.

“I feel really confident in my takedown defense and with the takedowns too. My wrestling is the biggest difference I’ve made since I have been here and Eric (Del Fierro) has helped me with my overall MMA game. I have my boxing coach from Sweden here too and it’s been really good for me,” the UFC light heavyweight said. “If everything goes well and as long as I’m not injured, I would probably like to have three to four fights this year."

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