A light-heavyweight fight between two recent title contenders Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Smith is expected to headline UFC Fight Night 152 on June 1st in Stockholm, Sweden.
The 32-year-old Gustafsson finally got his rematch with Jon Jones for the vacant 205lb title in December, but it didn’t prove to be as close as their first encounter, with ‘Bones’ claiming a third round submission victory to claim the belt.
Prior to that the Swedish star had earned back-to-back wins over Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira, but he’d had over 18 months on the sidelines due to injuries before the title opportunity arrived.
As for Smith, he is fresh off having also been defeated by Jones, losing out by unanimous decision just over a week ago.
The fight had been the culmination of an unexpected rise to the top of the division, with Smith having lost to Thiago Santos at middleweight just a year ago, but then after a move to 205lb had racked up a trio of big-name wins over Rashad Evans, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Volkan Oezdemir.
Gustafsson Vs Smith is expected to headline a UFC Fight Night 152 line-up that is is expected to air on ESPN+ and so far has no other fights attached to it yet.
