A heavyweight fight between Alexander Gustafsson and Ben Rothwell has been unveiled for UFC Fight Night 210 on May 21st.
A former three-time light-heavyweight title contender, the 35-year-old Gustafsson is opting to stay at heavyweight for his next fight despite having lost in his divisional debut by submission to Fabricio Werdum in just half a round back in July of 2020.
That was Gustafsson’s third loss in a row, having been KO’d by Jon Jones at 205lbs and then also submitted by Anthony Smith before deciding to move up in weight.
Gustafsson’s last taste of success came back in 2016 and 2017 when he strung together back-to-back wins over Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira, though he’s still best remembered for his first fight with Jon Jones back in 2013 when he gave the long-time champion one of the toughest fights of his career up to that point.
As for Rothwell, the 40-year-old heavyweight veteran is coming off a TKO loss to Marcos Rogerio de Lima back in November of last year.
In total Rothwell is 3-2 from his past five fights, having TKO’d Stefan Struve, split decisioned Ovince St. Preux and submitted Chris Barnett, while his other loss came on the scorecards against Marcin Tybura.
Gustafsson vs. Rothwell joins a UFC Fight Night 210 card that will be headlined by women’s bantamweight action as Holly Holm returns to fight Ketlen Vieira.
