According to Swedish media outlet SVT, Alexander Gustafsson’s bout against Gegard Mousasi next Saturday may be in jeopardy. “Gustafsson got a cut on the eyebrow when sparring in training, which makes his participation very uncertain” says the SVT report in Swedish today.
If Gustafsson does compete, he could put himself for a title shot with a victory over the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion with an impressive performance. “The Mauler” has stayed in Stockholm for this training camp at the new Allstars Training Center, where the reported cut may have taken place.
Gustafsson is 15 wins and 1 loss overall, and has put together 6 straight wins in the Octagon, while Mousasi is 33-3-2, and set for his Octagon debut. The bout is the main event, with the co-headliner between Ross Pearson and Ryan Couture.
SVT is public service in Sweden, so the report is from a respectable media outlet. MMA Viking will investigate the situation, which would significantly impact the bout scheduled for April 6 at Ericsson Globen Arenas.
For those in Sweden, you can watch the report on TV on SVT’s Sportnytt
Translation from the broadcast (originally done in Swedish):
The MMA event in the Ericsson Globe looks like they’ll might miss out on the big fight. Alexander Gustafsson have been injured and his participation is now unknown. Last year AG had a fight with Thiago Silva from Brazil in front of a sold out Ericsson Globe. This year the tickets were sold out in an hour for his fight against the dutchman Gegard Mousasi, in less than a week. The MMA fighters fight is now in danger when sparring in training he got stuck in the cage and pulled a gash around the eye. He has met with the union’s doctor that now gave him prohobition to compete. The Mauler as he is called is the big name for the card. He have been waiting for a title shot and a victory in a week would have given him a big opportunity to do that. Gustafsson, who has won 15 of 16 fights is ranked 4th in the world of UFC, Light Heavyweights.
EXCLUSIVE UPDATE
MMA Viking spoke with George Sallfeldt the president of SMMAF, and he says “99% chance the bout won’t take place”. Gustafsson was cut in sparring, in a “freak accident”. Gustafsson went and saw the SMMAF doctors yesterday for evaluation, and he was told that with the cut it will “unlikely be healed in time to be cleared”. Sallfeldt says that the initial report after Gustafsson went to the ER to get stitches when it happened, said it would take “3-4 weeks to heal”. “It’s not Alexander Gusatfsson’s choice, it is the doctors call.” “Gustafsson wants to fight” Sallfeldt says.
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