UFC President Dana White is less than thrilled about the Swedish MMA Federation’s decision to pull Alexander Gustafsson from the UFC on FUEL 9 main event on Tuesday.
Additionally, he has photographic evidence to plead his case, even though any hope of “The Mauler” facing off with Gegard Mousasi on Saturday is long gone.
This pic was taken of Gustafsson today and u can’t even see the cut!!! Worst decision I have EVER seen to pull fight twitter.com/danawhite/stat…
— Dana White (@danawhite) April 3, 2013
Needless to say, Gustafsson looks good as new in this picture, which is not all that surprising given the cut below his left eyebrow required just three stitches.
Nevertheless, the SMMAF deemed one of the UFC’s hottest rising star unfit to compete after evaluating the injury on Tuesday.
After all the talk of PRIDE star Wanderlei Silva filling in for Gustafsson turned out to be an elaborate April Fool’s joke, White revealed Tuesday evening that Ilir Latifi has been tapped as the replacement.
Latifi is a training partner of Gustafsson and enters the main event fight with a record of 7-2-1, winning four of his last five fights.
His sole loss during that span came to current Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament winner Emmanuel Newton in a bout under the Shark Fights banner during 2011.
“The Sledgehammer” faces a stiff test in Mousasi, currently undefeated (5-0-1) in his past six fights and holding wins over Hector Lombard, Melvin Manhoef, Mark Hunt and Ronaldo Souza in his 10-year career.
Also worth noting is that Mousasi is a former DREAM and Strikeforce champ who makes his UFC debut as the No. 10 fighter on their official light heavyweight rankings.
Given this unique set of circumstances leading up to this event, who is to blame for Gustafsson ultimately not being able to compete in this highly-anticipated match up?
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