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Alexander Gustafsson relocates to San Diego to 'regain his love' of the sport

Published Feb. 3, 2016 7:35 p.m. ET

Damon Martin

UFC light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson has picked up shop from his home in Sweden and traveled to San Diego to work at the Alliance Training Center in an attempt to regain his fire for fighting.

According to Gustafsson's manager Thomas Ghassemi via "UFC Tonight", the two-time title contender needed a change of scenery from his home country and a return to his former stomping grounds was his first choice of venue.

Gustafsson trained at Alliance for several years when he first started out in the UFC but eventually opted to do his fight camps at home instead. It's been nearly three years since Gustafsson worked under head coach Eric Del Fierro and his team in San Diego, but he hopes this is the spark to get him back on track after a tough loss at UFC 192 to Daniel Cormier.

Gustafsson's manager said that the Swede “felt like he just didn't have it anymore” during the fifth round with Cormier, and he's hopeful that this break from fighting as well as a change of training camps will be the ignition to put him back in the right mindset.

Gustafsson may still return to his teammates at All-Stars in Sweden, but for now this move to San Diego is what he needs to “regain his love and desire for the sport.”

Gustafsson hasn't been booked for another fight since falling to Cormier last October and it appears he's going to take a little extra time to get back in tune with his former team before making the call to the UFC to say he's ready to compete again.

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