When Alexander Gustaffson lost to Anthony Smith in June, he took to the mic afterward to call it quits.
The defeat was Gustafsson’s second consecutive loss. Prior to that, the Swede was defeated by light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC 232.
However, fight fans may not have seen the last of Gustafsson inside a UFC cage. According to a report from MMANytt, Gustafsson, like so many other “retired” fighters, is feeling the itch to come back.
As time goes on, it’s become more and more apparent that MMA “retirements” don’t last long. Many fighters have trouble keeping their word, and very few walk away from the sport for good.
Gustafsson might be no different.
“I fought my last fight against Anthony Smith, and it didn’t go as planned,” Gustafsson told Ashah Tafari. “I felt an incredible frustration. I’m a really sore loser, and I left my gloves in the cage and felt that’s enough now.
“But with that said, I still have this tingle in my hands. This is very new. It’s been a month, and I’m far from a retired fighter in my way of thinking and such. I’ve made my decision and so on, but it takes times to adapt and accept the new things in life and your role in all of it.”
Now 32, Gustafsson made his professional MMA debut at age 19. Gustafsson fought 24 times over the span of 12 years and defeated some of the top names in MMA, including Mauricio Rua, Glover Teixeira, Jimi Manuwa, and Jan Blacohwicz, among others.
The 6-foot-5 light heavyweight had lost four out of his final six bouts before his retirement announcement on June 1.
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