Alexander Gustafsson will join Jon Jones on the cover of the forthcoming EA Sports UFC video game after winning an online fan vote.
Gustafsson was seen as a dark horse when polling first began a few weeks ago with the Swede featuring alongside a host of other UFC stars.
However, ‘The Mauler’ is a national hero in his native Sweden and has garnered strong support worldwide after his memorable battle with Jones earlier this year which is widely regarded as one of the best fights of 2013, and that appears to have been enough to propel him to an unexpected victory here.
There’s a great deal of interest in a potential rematch between Jones and Gustafsson in 2014 – in fact if they both win their next fights then it could end up being the most anticipated fight of the year – so it’s fitting that they will stand oppposite each other.
Also, As it turns out, Gustafsson’s win spares the blushes of both EA and the UFC as in the final of the fan vote he was put up against Georges St.Pierre.
Normally, having GSP on the cover of the game would appear to be the perfect choice, but with the winner of this vote being unveiled on the same day that the Canadian superstar announced that he was vacating his title and taking an indefinite break from the sport, it could have ended up as a rather unfortunate PR blunder on their part.
EA Sports UFC is expected to be released in May for both XBox One and Playstation 4.
