ALEXANDER GUSTAFSSON IS to be handed a second shot at clinching the UFC light-heavyweight world title.
Despite suffering a first-round defeat to Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson in his last outing, Gustafsson is set to take on reigning champion Daniel Cormier in his first title defence.
No date or venue for the bout has been confirmed, but the UFC has announced that the Swede will be first in line to face Cormier, who defeated Johnson last month to win the title that was recently vacated by Jon Jones.
Gustafsson came closer than any other challenger to dethroning Jones in September 2013 when he lost narrowly via decision, but ‘The Mauler’ is perhaps fortunate to be back in title contention so soon.
Following his resounding loss to Anthony Johnson in January, Gustafsson was then forced to withdraw from a meeting with Glover Teixeira later this month due to injury.
On the back of their recent confrontation at the UFC 187 post-event press conference, Ryan Bader was widely expected to be the first challenger to Daniel Cormier’s title. Bader and Cormier were scheduled to fight this weekend until Cormier was instead catapulted into a title shot as a result of Jon Jones’ current legal problems.
Meanwhile, it has also been confirmed that UFC 191 will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on 5 September.
However, in spite of initial speculation which suggested that UFC 191 would be headlined by Cormier versus Gustafsson, the fighters say the bout hasn’t been booked for that particular event.
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Cormier’s team-mate, Luke Rockhold, will also be given an opportunity to join his AKA colleague as UFC title-holder.
The 185lbs division’s number one contender will take on middleweight champion Chris Weidman next, but no date or venue has been confirmed for that one yet either.
After a quarter of stoppage victories over Costas Philippou, Tim Boetsch, Michael Bisping and Lyoto Machida, few will argue that Rockhold isn’t worthy of his shot.
– Updated at 16.40
