Alexander Gustafsson has withdrawn from his bout with Paul Craig at UFC Fight Night 191 on September 4th due to an undisclosed injury.
The 34-year-old Gustafsson had appeared to be committed to retirement in 2019 after becoming disillusioned after back-to-back losses against Jon Jones and Anthony Smith, but last year he made a comeback at heavyweight.
That move up in weight proved to be short-lived however after he went up against former champion Fabricio Werdum and was submitted mid-way through the opening round.
As such, Gustafsson had been set to drop back down to 205lbs for his next fight against Craig, who has been an unlikely success story in the division recently, having gone five fights in a row without tasting defeat.
Significantly, though Craig is best known for his submission prowess, he’s actually won his last two fights via TKO against Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Jamahall Hill, though it should be noted that he actually also dislocated his latter opponent’s arm in the process of his first round victory.
At this stage it’s not clear whether the UFC intends to keep Craig on the card against a late-replacement opponent, but meanwhile UFC Fight Night 191 proceeds with a middleweight headliner featuring Darren Till vs. Derek Brunson.
