It looks like Alexander Gustafsson is going to LA after all.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN is reporting that the UFC has decided to move Volkan Oezdemir from his scheduled bout against Shogun Rua for July 22nd and opted to pit him against Alexander Gustafsson for UFC 227 instead:
BREAKING: Alexander Gustafsson (@AlexTheMauler) and Volkan Oezdemir (@volkan_oezdemir) have verbally agreed to meet at UFC 227 on Aug. 4 in Los Angeles, multiple sources say. UFC has been working on a fight for Gustafsson on that card for awhile, finally got one done.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 2, 2018
Volkan Oezdemir was scheduled to face Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua on July 22 in Germany, but the UFC opted to move him to UFC 227 against Alexander Gustafsson. UFC currently working on a replacement to face Shogun.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 2, 2018
Volkan Oezdemir is looking to rebound from his loss to Daniel Cormier while vying for the light heavyweight championship, and what a rebound it would be if he were to beat the boogeyman of 205, Alexander Gustafsson. In Gustafsson’s most recent fight, he looked absolutely sensational in his TKO victory over Glover Teixeira in May of 2017. After a one-ear layoff, the Swede is back, and Volkan has no time to hear talks of Alexander Gustafsson using him as a stepping stone to the third title shot of his career.
With the addition of this guaranteed main card bout, here is the updated lineup for UFC 227:
Bantamweight Champion T.J. Dillashaw vs. Cody Garbrandt
Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo
Alexander Gustafsson vs. Volkan Oezdemir
Renato Moicano vs. Cub Swanson
Derek Brunson vs. Antonio Carlos Junior
Brett Johns vs. Pedro Munhoz
Irene Aldana vs. Bethe Correia
Wuliji Buren vs. Bharat Kandare
Danielle Taylor vs. Weili Zhang
Kyung Ho Kang vs. Ricardo Ramos
Benito Lopez vs. Ricky Simon
J.J. Aldrich vs. Polyana Viana
Who do you think will win? Gustafsson or Oezdemir?
