Alexander Gustafsson is heading back to light-heavyweight for his next fight as he’s signed up to fight Paul Craig at UFC Fight Night 193 on September 4th.
The former 205lb title contender attempted to step up to heavyweight last year, but it proved to be an ill-fated decision as he would be submitted at the midway point of the opening round by Fabricio Werdum.
Before that Gustafsson had locked horns with Jon Jones for the second time in his career, and suffered a third round TKO loss, followed by a submission loss against Anthony Smith.
So, there’s a lot of pressure on the 34-year-old Gustafsson’s shoulders as he takes his first fight in over a year against the 33-year-old Craig, who has been a surprise success story in the division lately.
In the past couple of years the Scottish fighter has compiled four wins and a draw at 205lbs, with his impressive submission skills being a big part of his success, though in his last two fights he’s emerged with TKO victories against Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Jamahal Hill – although it should be said that he had his latter opponent in a nasty submission at the same time, which appeared to break his arm (although later it emerged it was just dislocated).
Gustafsson vs. Craig joins a UFC Fight Night 193 card that’s still a work in progress, but will also feature Khalil Rountree Jr vs. Modestas Bakauskas and Nathaniel Wood vs. Jonathan Martinez.
