Alex Gustafsson was coy on his chances of challenging for the UFC Light Heavyweight title idespite comfortably defeating Thiago Silva.
Swedish star ready for bigger challenges in 2012
Alex Gustafsson was coy on his chances of challenging for the UFC Light Heavyweight title in the near future despite comfortably defeating Thiago Silva at UFC Sweden.
Gustafsson won a unanimous points decision over the Brazilian in Stockholm to record his fifth consecutive UFC victory, but was slightly disappointed the fight went the distance.
He said: "It is amazing to win in front of my home country. It's my first decision, which is new for me, but I'm still learning and progressing and this was an important experience.
"But this is a dream come true"
He added: "I [executed] my game plan, but I'm a finisher."
Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones defends his belt against Rashad Evans at UFC 145 next weekend, and the ambitious Swede admits that he would step up to the challenge if asked.
He added: "I want to fight the top five guys in the world in my division, but if [the UFC] were to give me a title shot, I would be more than ready if that day comes."
Victory
In the co-main event Brian Stann made short work of Alessio Sakara by securing a TKO victory at 2:26 of the opening round as the American bounced back from defeat to Chael Sonnen at UFC 136.
Siyar Bahadurzada impressed on his UFC debut when he earned Knockout of the Night with a stunning opening round defeat of Paulo Thiago. The Afghan fighter stunned the experienced Thiago with a precise uppercut with just 42 seconds on the clock to record an emphatic victory.
There was success for a trio of English fighters too as Brad Pickett managed to earn Fight of the Night when he finished Damacio Page with a rear-naked choke, Jason Young defeated Eric Wisely by unanimous decision and John Maguire recorded back-to-back wins when he defeated DaMarques Johnson with an armbar to earn Submission of the Night.
Elsewhere, Dennis Siver battled to a hard-fought decision win over Diego Nunes to secure his first victory at Featherweight.
