Alexander Gustafsson says he was never really considering retirement

2015 was not a great year for Swedish light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson. First, he experienced the lone knockout loss of his career at the hands Anthony “Rumble” Johnson – a loss that occurred in front of tens of thousands of loyal, Swedish fans. Then, he came up short in a razor thin title fight with reigning champion Daniel Cormier, which marked the second time he’d narrowly missed UFC gold.

On the heels of these losses it was no secret that Gustafsson’s fire was fading. In fact, several of his quotes throughout the year led fans to believe that he was contemplating retirement – and we’re not talking about his 2016 April Fools prank.

In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Gustafsson assured that, even after his tough losses to rumble and Cormier, retirement was never really on the table.

“It was just one of those things, when you lose – I don’t even think I actually said ‘retiring’,” Gustafsson said on the show. “I just came from a loss, I was really close to finishing [Cormier] and close to a win, and I was just pissed I just lost a fight so I was really pissed, and maybe I said something about, like, maybe I wanted to take a break or something like that. Never retire.”

“And you know, you say something, and something else comes out from the media. So it is what it is, but I never considered retiring and it wouldn’t happen, because it’s just one of those things you can’t just say, because it’s so much harder to really do it. This is what I do. This is what I am good at. It’s nothing that you just quit one day, so I wasn’t even close to retiring.”

Luckily, Gustafsson is now firmly back on track. Having scored a big win over Poland’s Jan Blachowicz earlier this month, he’s now expected to take on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in Brazil this November.

Do you think Gustafsson has another title run in him? Sound off, PENN nation!