Alexander Gustafsson

Alexander Lars-Åke Gustafsson (born 15 January 1987) is a Swedish professional mixed martial artist. He competed in the Light Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Gustafsson spent a major part of his MMA career in the Light Heavyweight division of the UFC, where he became a top contender and fought for the title three times. He is often regarded as one of the best mixed martial artists never to have won a UFC Championship.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Gustafsson started training MMA in 2006, and before that, he trained in boxing, which he started when he was around 10 years old. He won the national championship (youth-junior level) in 2003, at the age of 16. In 2008–2009 he made a quick return to boxing, winning some amateur tournaments in Sweden and defeating the Swedish heavyweight boxing champion in an amateur fight. He was set to compete in the national championship event the following year, 2010, for which he was a big favorite to win. However, his newly awakened boxing career ended when he signed with the UFC in September 2009.

Gustafsson also competed in the martial arts form of shootfighting, before starting his professional MMA career, with a Shoot record of 5–1, with 4 wins by KO/TKO and 1 by decision, his only loss came by split decision against Mats Nilsson in the Kaisho Battle 2007 event. Before signing with the UFC, Gustafsson fought mostly in smaller promotions in Sweden and other parts of Europe. By 2009, he had racked up a perfect pro-record of 8–0, with 6 wins coming by the way of KO/TKO, 1 by submission and 1 by decision.

The most notable victories in his first 8 fights came against German prospect Florian Muller, who he defeated by TKO in the second round on 13 March 2008.