Alexander Gustafsson wins vote for ‘EA Sports UFC’ video-game cover

Recent UFC light-heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson has defeated welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre to earn a spot on the upcoming “EA Sports UFC” video game, officials today announced.

“It’s a thrill and an honor to appear on the cover of the first ever ‘EA SPORTS UFC’ game,” Gustafsson stated. “I want to thank all my fans, especially everybody in Europe, who tirelessly campaigned and voted for me. This is a huge win, and it wouldn’t have been possible without everyone’s support.”

Gustafsson now joins recent opponent and UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones on the cover of the video game, which is slated for a spring 2014 release.

Fan voting determined who would join Jones on the cover. A field of 16 was whittled down to one ultimate winner in the weekly voting contests. According to today’s announcement, more than 11 million votes were cast.

Gustafsson topped Chael Sonnen in the semifinal round of voting; St-Pierre edged Anthony Pettis.

Although St-Pierre remains one of the most popular figures in the sport and is the biggest pay-per-view draw in MMA, Gustafsson pulled off the upset. The Swede gained some voting support thanks to his remarkable UFC 165 title fight against Jones. Although Gustafsson challenged the champ like no one before him could, the challenger suffered a unanimous-decision loss in the Sept. 21 headliner. However, if Gustafsson (15-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) can get by Jimi Manuwa (14-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) in early March, and if Jones (19-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC) gets by Glover Teixeira (22-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) later that month, their rematch is likely to take place in mid-2014.

Other fighters who were part of the “UFC EA Sports” fan vote included Jose Aldo, Michael Bisping, Daniel Cormier, Dominick Cruz, Junior dos Santos, Urijah Faber, Benson Henderson, Demetrious Johnson, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate and Chris Weidman.

“EA Sports UFC” will be available on Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.