Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson has been in the headlines again stemming from his fight at 227 falling out due to a lack of opponent with further problems following. Most recently current double champ Daniel Cormier took to Instagram in order to address what he believes to be several issues with the manner in which Gustafsson has been conducting himself.
Cormier‘s complaints seem to be multifaceted coming from the entitled position Gustafsson holds at the number 1 contender spot at light heavyweight despite only fighting twice since his last meeting with Cormier in October of 2015. Furthermore it appeared as though Gustafsson was unwilling to take a replacement for Volkan Oezdemir who dropped out of the fight scheduled for UFC 227 on August 4th due to a broken nose. Reportedly Gustafsson was offered 5th ranked light heavyweight Jan Blachowicz as well as power punching newcomer Khalil Rountree. Furthermore after a stunning first round knockout of Shogun Rua this past weekend, the legend killer Anthony “Lionheart” Smith called out Gustafsson which in my mind would have been an extremely interesting bout.
Only hours after the bout it was released that Gustafsson to was injured with an undisclosed minor injury which will sideline him from the 227 bout.
Alexander Gustafsson's manager Nima Safapour has confirmed Gustafsson is off UFC 227 with a "minor injury." He wanted badly to be on the card, but wasn't meant to be. Safapour says Gustafsson will be fighting again "very soon." @MMAjunkieJohn first reported Gus off 227.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 22, 2018
Gustafsson's agent Nima Safapour also adds, "Had Alex been fit to fight, we were prepared to face [Khalil] Rountree or anyone else the UFC had asked us … We don't care who opponent is, but whomever we face [next], it should be for the meaningful result of the LHW UFC title."
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 22, 2018
To many this late information on the injury was taken with a hint of skepticism including Smith who when given the information at the post fight press conference had this to say
“It’s kinda weird how that works out. He needed an opponent yesterday. What happened between then and now? I don’t know, but that’s mighty ironic.”
It will be interesting to see where Gustafsson fights next as it seems from the information presented that the minor injury may not keep him out for long. It is possible that Gustaffson could return to the octagon for UFC 228 which is still without a main event however with the current state of the light heavyweight division it is difficult to predict who his opponent is likely to be.
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