Yesterday at the UFC media tour in London to help promote the Jimi Manuwa vs Alexander Gustafsson fight at Fight Night 37 on March 8th we had a chance to sit down and talk with the two light-heavyweights.
One question was searing through our minds was the recent comments made by Jon Jones about the match-up and about Jimi Manuwa. He said the following about Manuwa, an unranked fighter, being appointed Gustafsson’s opponent, “no I’m not surprised…people wanna see the rematch [Jones v Gustafsson], this is the UFC’s way of making it happen.”
When we asked Manuwa his thoughts about Jones’ comments he remained cool and calm saying “I take no notice of stuff like that. He’s the champion and anyone can understand what he’s trying to say but it really doesn’t bother me. At the end of the day he [Jones] is number one, Alex [Gutafsson] is number two and I am not ranked in the top ten but at the same time I am undefeated and I do what I do. So we’ll see come March 8th who’ll be taking notice after the fight.”
Gustafsson shared Manuwa’s thoughts on Jones’ comments, “I don’t really care what he says” stated the Swede.
He then highlighted that he feels that the hard-hitting Londoner is one of the most dangerous opponents out there, “you shouldn’t threat him like he is a walk in the park because he’s not, I think he’s the toughest guy out there right now.”
You can view the full video of the Gustafsson & Manuwa Media Tour right here.
Alan’s Angle: Mutual respect between the two fighters. I share Gustafsson’s view of Manuwa, even though he is not ranked yet doesn’t mean that he isn’t a high calibre opponent. It will be a tough fight for Gustafsson and should he win then he will be deserving of the title shot. Manuwa remains cool as a cucumber during his interviews, it is hard to get stuff out of him at times but you can sense his confidence in his ability. Both of their response’s are classy and just add to the perception of Jones’ being cocky.
