For the second time in his career as a UFC Light Heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson is scheduled to headline an event in his homeland of Sweden. Last year, he dominated Thiago Silva to a unanimous decision win as the main event of UFC On Fuel TV 2. He’s now set to fight Gegard Mousasi at the top of the UFC On Fuel TV 9 card on April 6 in a fight that could have title implications.
However, it looks like the fight could be in real danger of being cancelled. SVT is reporting that Gustafsson suffered a cut in training:
According to reports given to SVT Sport, Gustafsson has opened a gash in his eyebrow while sparring, making his appearance highly uncertain.
MMANytt confirmed the injury with Gus’s camp:
According to a trusted source of MMANytt the news of Gustafsson’s injury is true. Now it comes down to how deep the cut over the eye is and whether SMMAF are going to license him to fight.
Coming off a decisive victory over Shogun Rua at UFC On Fox 5, UFC president Dana White has said that Alexander could earn a title shot with a win over Mousasi. But, if this cut forces him out of the fight, it’s hard to say who will challenge next for the Light Heavyweight belt or when Gustafsson will make it back in title talks.
UPDATE: From MMANytt:
“MMANytt recently confirmed this with the Swedish MMA Association who explain that it will take a number of weeks before the injury heals up, and that Gustafsson with 99% certainty won’t be medically approved in the medical examination which is planned to go down on Friday”
SMMAF spokeperson Gorge Sallfeldt to MMANytt. “This SMMAF doctor has seen the injury in person, while another two doctors say the same thing after having examined pictures of the injury. Our doctors have looked at this injury, and it’s very hard to imagine it will be medically approved by Friday.”
HT: Big thanks to BE member wonderfulspam for the translations.