Alexander Gustafsson Out of UFC 227 Due to Minor Injury

Alexander Gustafsson nearly had a replacement opponent for UFC 227, but has bow been sidelined due to an injury himself. MMAjunkie reports that the UFC issued a statement confirming that Gustafsson was off of the card. He was originally set to face Volkan Oezdemir, but was left without an opponent. Anthony Smith offered to face Gustafsson in a quick turnaround fight after he won at UFC Fight Night 134, but that is no longer in the cards.

“Alex Gustafsson is out of UFC 227 with a minor injury,” the statement read. “The injury occurred last week. Since that time, we have been working closely with the UFC doctors, our doctors in Sweden, and the experts at the UFC Performance Institute. We have been advised that Alex has a minor injury, and he will not be permitted to compete at UFC 227. Had Alex been fit to fight, we were prepared to face (Khalil) Rountree or anyone else the UFC had asked us, including (Daniel) Cormier at heavyweight.

“Alex will be fighting again very soon. He will give his side of the story shortly. We don’t care who the opponent is. But whomever we face it should be for the meaningful result of the LHW UFC Title.”

UFC 227 takes place on August 4th in Los Angeles. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.