Tag: UFC on Fuel 9

Alexander Gustafsson lost his spot in the UFC on Fuel TV 9 main event only days before his home country of Sweden will host the fight card. A cut over the light heavyweight’s left eye was the culprit for Gustafsson‘s removal from his bout with former Strikeforce champion Gegard Mousasi.

Despite the loss of Gustafsson, UFC on Fuel TV 9 will go on as planned. Gustafsson‘s teammate, Ilir Latifi has stepped up to fight Mousasi on short notice and will have a chance to shock the world.

Though Saturday’s event will move along without him, questions still remain about what will be next for Gustafsson, who has become one of the top two contenders in the 205-pound division alongside former champion Lyoto Machida.

While the UFC would have to go back on its word once again, a bout between Gustafsson and Machida is now the fight to make to determine the most deserving title challenger in the light heavyweight class.

Machida was promised a title shot with his win over Dan Henderson at UFC 157, but he’s also only two fights removed from a submission loss to current light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Additionally, Machida‘s manager has put it out there that the Brazilian does not want to sit and wait too long for the winner of an upcoming title fight between Jones and Chael Sonnen.

With a superfight against middleweight champion Anderson Silva possibly in Jones’ future, Machida could be on the shelf for a while should he have to wait for a championship bout against the dominant titleholder. Given that Machida has already lost decisively to the current champion, it wouldn’t make much sense to create a logjam in the 205-pound title picture just so Machida can get a second opportunity to beat Jones. 

Instead, Gustafsson should be given an opportunity to prove he is the biggest threat to capture the light heavyweight belt. The only way for him to make a bigger statement than the ones he’s already made is for the Swedish light heavyweight to be matched up with Machida.

While the UFC waits for Silva’s next title defense against Chris Weidman to determine whether or not the timing is right for Jones to battle the long-reigning middleweight champion, Gustafsson should be booked for a fight with Machida, and that bout could very well serve as the main event on the first ever Fox Sports 1 fight card.

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UFC on Fuel 9 is set to take place this weekend, April 6, in Stockholm, Sweden. It’s the UFC’s second visit to the country and was meant to be headlined by local hero Alexander Gustafsson taking on UFC newcomer Gegard Mousasi.

However, a cut received during training has forced the Swedish light heavyweight out of the event, leaving his teammate, the unknown Ilir Latifi, to take his place.

This will be a bitter disappointment for the hometown fans who, only a year ago, were cheering Gustafsson to victory in his fight against Thiago Silva.

That win, his fifth in a row, led “The Mauler” to a lucrative shot at former 205-pound champion, Mauricio Rua, who he dispensed with in December.

Gustafsson’s fight against Mousasi, a former Strikeforce and DREAM champion himself, would have been his platform for a shot against incumbent champion Jon Jones. That, then, was the main interest which had been generated by this fight. It would have potentially secured a number one contender after Jones’ forthcoming match against Chael Sonnen (provided Jones wins that match, and Lyoto Machida, for some reason, is no longer in the picture).

Caveats aside, without The Mauler’s presence, there seems little of interest for fans, in Sweden and elsewhere, to tune in on Saturday night.

The co-main event features Ross Pearson, newly back at lightweight, fighting Ryan Couture, Randy’s son, who is making his debut for the promotion. Neither fighter is anywhere near being considered top 10 in their division, let alone title hopefuls. The main event, then, is being carried by Mousasi, who has already been discounted as a potential contender, fighting a total unknown.

Perhaps that’s a little unfair on Latifi. The Albanian comes into his UFC debut on a three-fight win streak, all of which happened last year, and five of his seven career wins have come by stoppage. However, the main event is still being headlined by two fighters who’ve never fought in the Octagon before, and that perhaps is reason enough for some to vote for the event to be cancelled.

Of course that’s a drastic solution, and despite all the injury turmoil the UFC has been bedevilled with in recent years, the promotion has only ever resorted to such extreme measures once before. Nevertheless, even with the exception of the UFC newcomers, the majority of the rest of the fighters on the main card (Brad Pickett, Diego Brandao, Akira Corassani) have been fighting on the UFC’s preliminary-fights circuit and have little experience as main card draws.

It seems then, without Gustafsson’s presence, UFC on Fuel 9 has been severely undermined. But there is one saving grace. Wanderlei Silva’s April Fools’ joke, which suggested he’d be stepping in to face Mousasi, generated a great deal of last-minute buzz, which might convince a trickle of extra fans to tune in to the event.

With that said, it’s now up to the fighters to prove that the event was worth it after all.

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