Alexander Gustafsson has ended his retirement.
Following his submission loss to Anthony Smith last June, Gustafsson retired from the sport. Yet, many thought it would not be permanent and now, according to Combate, he will indeed end his brief retirement.
Gustafsson will be moving to heavyweight where he will be fighting former UFC heavyweight champion, Fabricio Werdum on July 25. But, if the Werdum matchup can not happen, Ovince Saint Preux is the backup fighter to welcome Gustafsson back to the Octagon and to the heavyweight division according to the report.
The Swede is currently 18-6 as a pro and on a two-fight losing skid after being TKO’d by Jon Jones for the belt and then the submission loss to Smith. In his career, he has notable wins over Jan Blachowicz, Jimi Manuwa, and Shogun Rua among others.
Fabricio Werdum, meanwhile, returned back at UFC 249 following a two-year USADA suspension to battle Alexey Oleynik. There, he suffered a split decision loss and will be making a quick turnaround on July 25.
If Ovince Saint Preux is forced to step in, he’s coming off his heavyweight debut where he dropped a decision to Ben Rothwell. Before that, he earned a Von Flue choke win over Michal Oleksiejczuk to snap his two-fight losing skid.
The July 25 card will be headlined by a middleweight bout between Robert Whittaker and Darren Till.
