A report has emerged that a Light Heavyweight bout between Alexander Gustafsson and Ovince Saint Preux has been added to UFC 201.
UPDATE: This has now been denied by Gustafasson’s management team, per MMAJunkie’s Chamatkar Sandhu.
The Sprawl learned from UFC Matchmaking on Twitter [EDITOR – This tweet has since been deleted] that the fight has been added although no official announcement has been made by the UFC.
JUST ADDED: Ovince Saint Preux (@003_OSP) will return at #UFC201 to fight Alexander Gustafsson (@AlexTheMauler) in a light-heavyweight bout
— UFC Matchmaking (@ufcrumors) May 11, 2016
Gustafsson (16-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) gave former Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones his toughest fight at UFC 165, but since then, hasn’t been able to reach the heights that he did before, and during his fight with Jones. Following the narrow decision loss to Jones, Gustafsson fought Jimi Manuwa at UFC London. Gustafsson won the fight via TKO in the second round. Gustafsson then faced Anthony Johnson in his home country of Sweden, but was stopped with strikes for the first time in his career in just two minutes and fifteen seconds. In his most recent outing, Gustafsson fought current champion Daniel Cormier for the belt, and after battling for five hard rounds, lost another narrow decision, this time a split.
Saint Preux (19-8 MMA, 7-3 UFC) is coming off the biggest fight of his career. Saint Preux was given an opportunity to face one of the greatest of all time in Jon Jones at UFC 197 after Daniel Cormier pulled out of the bout. Saint Preux and Jones fought for five rounds with the Interim UFC Light Heavyweight title on the line. Saint Preux eventually lost the fight via unanimous decision. Prior to the fight with Jones, Saint Preux defeated Rafael Cavalcante via decision.
UFC 201 takes place live from the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on July 30, 2016. The card is expected to be headlined by a welterweight championship fight between Robbie Lawler and Tyron Woodley.
