Volkan Oezdemir out of UFC 227 fight with Alexander Gustafsson

UFC 227 has taken a major hit. Swiss light heavyweight contender Volkan Oezdemir has been forced out of his main card collision with Swedish star Alexander Gustafsson with an injury.

This per ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.

Breaking: Volkan Oezdemir is out of UFC 227 due to injury. He was scheduled to face Alexander Gustafsson on Aug. 4. UFC currently seeking a replacement for Gustafsson but no guarantee he’ll remain on the card. More coming to ESPN shortly.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 19, 2018

“Volkan Oezdemir is out of UFC 227 due to injury,” Helwani reported in a Thursday morning Tweet. “He was scheduled to face Alexander Gustafsson on Aug. 4. UFC currently seeking a replacement for Gustafsson but no guarantee he’ll remain on the card.”

As Helwani says in this Tweet, the UFC is seeking a replacement opponent for Gustafsson. Given that other top light heavyweight contenders such as Glover Teixeira, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Anthony Smith and Corey Anderson are all booked, and Jimi Manuwa and Ilir Latifi are training partners of Gustafsson, one of the most likely options seemed like former UFC middleweight title challenger Yoel Romero. Romero, after all, recently announced plans to move to the light heavyweight division, and was briefly mentioned as an opponent for Gustafsson.

According to Helwani, however, Romero will not be able to fight at UFC 227 on August 4, as he’s recovering from surgery.

Romero was open to fighting Gustafsson, and that was discussed before Oezdemir, but he can’t on Aug. 4 due to his recent surgery. https://t.co/D8Ce1meTNe

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 19, 2018

“Romero was open to fighting Gustafsson, and that was discussed before Oezdemir, but he can’t on Aug. 4 due to his recent surgery,” Helwani stated when a fan suggested Romero as a replacement opponent for Gustafsson.

Who would you like to see Alexander Gustafsson fight at UFC 227 now that Volkan Oezdemir is not available? Do you think the UFC will be able to keep the Swedish star on the card?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/19/2018.