Alexander Gustafsson challenges Corey Anderson to ‘throw down’ at UFC London, Anderson responds

Bloodyelbow.com

Alexander Gustafsson is looking to kill two birds with one stone. “The Mauler” hopes to brush off his UFC 232 loss to Jon Jones and avenge his teammate Ilir Latifi at the expense of Corey Anderson.

Gustafsson challenged Anderson to a sanctioned fight on Sunday night and he seems to have all the details sorted out. “Corey, everyone else at the top is taken,” the Swedish superstar captioned a photo of the two. “I am eager to get right back inside the cage and you just had a good fight with my brother [Latifi], so I think it’s the perfect time for us to throw down.”

Gustafsson, 31, has UFC London on March 16 in mind for his dream date with Anderson, 28. The requested match-up makes sense from a rankings standpoint. Gustafsson currently sits at number two in the light heavyweight division while Anderson skyrocketed to number six. Furthermore, Anderson’s three-fight winning streak against Patrick Cummins, Glover Teixeira, and Latifi warrants him a top-five fight.

The UFC’s light heavyweight division is finally producing numerous contenders outside of the Jones-Gustafsson-Daniel Cormier triangle. Anthony Smith’s three-fight winning streak reportedly has him in line for a UFC title shot. Beyond that, Jan Blachowicz and Thiagos Santos will meet at UFC Prague in a significant showdown of contenders. Anderson is now firmly in the mix and could in all likelihood leapfrog the Blachowicz vs. Santos winner with a victory over Gustafsson.

Anderson took a little bit of time before responding, saying he has another challenge to deal with right now – fatherhood: