Alexander Gustafsson has officially pulled out of the UFC 227 event on August 4th in Los Angeles, just days after his original opponent Volkan Oezdemir also withdrew from the fight due to an injury.
News that Gustafsson had withdrawn from the event due to “a minor injury” broke just after UFC Fight Night 134 headliner Anthony Smith knocked out Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in less than 90 seconds and then stated that he was willing to step in to fight the Swede on less than two weeks notice.
Soon after, light-heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, who has been repeatedly put on blast by Gustafsson, put ‘The Mauler’ on blast for not staying on the card to fight Smith.
“Dear Alex, I don’t know what happened to you going back to the Rockhold situation,” DC wrote to his rival. “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.”
However, since Cormier’s statement, Gustafsson’s management have now issued a statement claiming that the decision to pull him from UFC 227 was made before Smith’s fight, not after.
“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.”
