Injured Gustafsson withdraws from UFC 227 as Cormier roasts

Alexander Gustafsson (Image Courtesy: YouTube)

Bengaluru, July 23: Alexander Gustafsson, who was waiting for an opponent after losing Volkan Oezdemir last week to injury, has officially withdrawn from UFC 227 as a result of a "minor injury."

The news was first reported by MMA Junkie and Gustafsson's manager Nima Safapour confirmed the news to MMA Fighting later on Sunday (July 22).

And the Swede's exit from the event was reported immediately after Anthony Smith, who knocked out Mauricio Rua at Fight Night 134 called out of "The Mauler."

Safapour issued the following statement to MMA Fighting about Gustafsson's status:

"Alex Gustafsson is out of UFC 227 with a minor injury. 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 Roundtree or anyone else the promotion had asked us; including DC 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."

Gustafsson, who is one the top-ranked contenders in the light heavyweight division was called out during UFC Hamburg. The lanky Swede was the subject of a post-fight callout by Smith following his 89-second knockout of Mauricio Rua, however it appears any discussion regarding that fight will now have to wait.

Gustafsson received some stick for the events on Sunday (July 22). Daniel Cormier had some words for his Swedish rival after he pulled out of August 4th event.

The reigning two-division champion grilled Gustafsson on social media just hours after the Swede officially withdrew from UFC 227.

In post directed at Gustafsson on Instagram, Cormier labelled Gustafsson as "entitled" and "delusional" for his repeated title shot callouts.

"I will always be grateful for October 2015, but you and I won't share the Octagon again," Cormier wrote.

Cormier's full post is below.

Dear Alex, I don’t know what happened to you going back to the Rockhold situation. You have always been a stand up guy but your behavior changed. From calling a guy out the day after he got knocked out, to now offering to fight me knowing I have a broken hand, after Volkan couldn’t go. Now you’ve turned down Jan, turned down Khalil all while calling for a heavyweight title fight. Now, moments after Anthony Smith does his work like an animal you decide you’re hurt. Man, I respect you as a fighter. I will always be grateful for October 2015, but you and I won’t share the octagon again. I am disappointed in who you’ve become. You are so entitled, man, I can’t deal with delusional people. Good luck recovering. Our time has passed. See you from the commentary table. DC @alexthemauler #wegoourseparateways

A post shared by Daniel "DC" Cormier (@dc_mma) on Jul 22, 2018 at 5:12pm PDT

Later, Gustafsson's management released a follow-up statement in defence of their client. Check out the statement below.

"Doctors pulled Alex from the card last Friday. Days before Anthony was to compete. Before that we were trying to stay on the card. Assuming we could get cleared, we were prepared to face anyone. We assumed it would be Rountree as he was ready fight, and we were told Jan would fight at another time. We also offered to fight DC at heavyweight if he was healthy. So Alex was prepared to face anyone, ranked or unranked. But the doctor's said he was unfit to compete.

"It was determined last Friday he would not be on the card. Days before the Smith contest."

(With inputs from MMA Fighting)