Swedish light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson has posted a picture of the cut he received last week which has now meant he’s had to pull out of the UFC on Fuel 9 main event, due to take place this weekend in Stockholm, Sweden.
The picture, posted on his blog, is a particularly nasty one: a wide and deep laceration just above his eye. The injury will leave him unable to fight for two to three weeks, too long to allow him to make this Saturday’s event.
Taking one look at the cut, it seems impossible that any sports body would have licensed him to fight in just a few days, and the Swedish MMA Federation, which decided not to issue him a licence, was no different.
In his blog Gustafsson explains how the injury happened—not inflicted by another opponent, but an accident during wrestling training when he “lost his balance” and hit his eyebrow on the mat.
It seems like typical Sod’s law that “the Mauler” took the cut on the worst place possible—the exact spot combat athletes the world over hope to open a cut on their opponent to win a TKO stoppage in a real fight.
Gustafsson was scheduled to fight UFC newcomer Gegard Mousasi in a match many expected would have led the Swede directly to a title shot against incumbent champion Jon Jones. That will now have to wait.
Mousasi, meanwhile, after getting trolled by Wanderlei Silva briefly, will now face Gustafsson’s training partner Ilir Latifi.
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