Alexander Gustafsson may be coming off a loss against UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones but it doesn’t seem to have effected his confidence in any way. The Swedish fighter almost seems more at one with his abilities and what he needs to do against Jimi Manuwa this Saturday.

I’ve listened to various interviews with Gustafsson ahead of UFC Fight Night London this weekend and in each one it quickly becomes clear how serious he’s taking this fight against Manuwa. He knows that looking past any opponent in the UFC is a mistake and if he wants to earn a rematch against Jones then he’ll need to deliver a strong performance.

Here is what Gustafsson had to say on the latest edition of UFC Tonight which aired on Wednesday:

“I don’t want to look past Jimi, he’s a really dangerous guy and a lot of people don’t know about him. I know that. I’m not looking past him.”

The 27-year-old makes a valid point, looking past a dangerous opponent like Manuwa would be foolish. Fair enough, we may not have seen “The Poster Boy” go five rounds and we may not have seen much of him fighting on the ground, but we do know he has the power to finish fights, he’s undefeated and holds three victories over top level competition inside the UFC octagon.

“I’ve done my homework. I’m ready to go. I’ve had the best camp ever. I’m better than I was when I fought Jon Jones. Whatever he does, I’ll have an answer for it.” – Alexander Gustafsson

This is the confidence I was talking about earlier, Gustafsson sounds more focused then ever. In the Jones fight we really got to see some of the improvements Alexander had made to the technical side of his striking, and I think this will be a key factor in the fight against Manuwa. “The Mauler” may not have as much power as Jimi but he has impeccable footwork and a strong Jiu Jitsu game which could be important tools in this fight.

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