The 5 best UFC fighters from Europe

#3 Alexander Gustafsson

Alexander Gustafsson came close to winning the Light-Heavyweight title on two occasions

The face of Swedish MMA, Gustafsson has been a contender in the UFC’s 205lbs division for the best part of a decade now. Debuting back in 2009 with a knockout win over Jared Hamman, ‘The Mauler’ was a very raw talent back then, and it was actually a loss that changed his career trajectory.

Gustafsson was choked out by Phil Davis, but the experience and friendship he formed with Davis allowed him to hook up with Team Alliance – Dominick Cruz’s famed camp – and his improvement since that time has been immeasurable.

Since then he’s defeated real top contenders and former champions – the likes of Matt Hamill, Thiago Silva, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Glover Teixeira have all fallen at the hands of the lanky Swede.

He’s also come within a whisker of winning the UFC title on two separate occasions, and both fights could be argued to be within the top handful of title fights in promotional history. His first attempt saw him go toe-to-toe with Jon Jones, pushing Jones harder than anyone had ever done before, and even taking the champion down for the first time before the judges decided Jones had done enough to retain.

And his second attempt saw him almost knock Daniel Cormier out with a knee before he came away on the wrong end of a split decision.

Given how close he came to beating two of the all-time greats at 205lbs – and the fact that his only other UFC losses came early on in his career against Davis, and a knockout at the hands of ‘Rumble’ Johnson following an accidental headbutt – there’s no reason to suspect that Gustafsson couldn’t end up with the belt around his waist at some point – particularly now that Jones is likely to spend a long time on the shelf after a second positive drug test.

When all is said and done though, regardless of whether he ever wins the Light-Heavyweight title, Gustafsson will certainly go down as one of the best European fighters in UFC history.