Jon "Bones" Jones is still the undisputed pound-for-pound champion in the UFC after a brutal war with Alexander Gustafsson on Saturday, but plans to fight Glover Teixeira next may be scrapped.
Because of Gustafsson's performance, a rematch may be in order, a concept not dismissed by UFC president Dana White.
"We'll give Glover another fight (if it happens)," White said. "I like the idea. I think that that fight was awesome, and I think it was one of those fights that people would love to see again. It would be hard for either one of the fighters not to think they should rematch."
Even Teixeira admitted that Gustafsson may have earned a second chance against Jones; his main concern is remaining active if he has to wait.
"I don't worry about this stuff," Teixeira said. "For sure they're going to give me another fight, I don't want to wait for the rematch. It is the way it is, I'm not going to say that he doesn't deserve a rematch. It was a phenomenal fight and we'll see what happens."
When asked for his takeaways from Jones vs. Gustafsson, Teixeira seemed like he noticed aspects of Jones' style that may be ripe for exploitation when his day comes. He also noted the toughness of Jones, which may have been in doubt due to his utter dominance of all comers prior to Saturday night.
"Alex proved that Jon Jones' wrestling can be stopped. Jon Jones proved he can fight off his back too, and everyone was wondering about that. Now we know what he's going to do."
According to reports the doctor present for UFC 165 nearly stopped the fight and awarded Gustafsson a TKO victory. The challenger opened Jones up above his right eye with a hard left hand, and the bleeding was so bad the doctor wanted to end it.
Impassioned pleas from both Jones and referee "Big" John McCarthy kept the fight going, and eventually allowed Jones to retain his strap.
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