Alexander Gustafsson is fresh off the operating table.
UFC Lightheavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson hasn’t entered the Octagon since May, and many fans have been wondering why he has stayed out of the conversation for a title bout with champ Daniel Cormier.
Then on Monday Gus revealed via Instagram that he has undergone a successful surgery on his left shoulder and is looking to begin the rehab process shortly.
“Op done,” he captioned the photo. “Got my shoulder fixed, feel great, been 3 month with a plate keeping my collarbone in place! Now rehab and slowly getting back in 100% training!”
The 30-year-old last appeared in the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 109 in his home country of Sweden, where he delivered a spectacular knockout of perennial divisional standout Glover Teixeira in the fifth round.
The win was his second consecutively, after a September 2016 decision over Jan Blachowicz. Before that, Gustafsson lost a split decision title bout against Daniel Cormier at UFC 192 in October 2015.
Without a doubt he is one of the best at 205, and since the division sorely needs fights, he will be sorely missed for the duration of his recovery.
Gustaffson did not clarify the exact nature of the shoulder injury or surgery, but it looks as though he has had his AC joint repaired. The AC joint is one of the most delicate in the body and is critical to shoulder function. Early in his career, UFC Middleweight Luke Rockhold underwent an AC joint repair and used the time off to develop his now thunderous left round kicks. Hopefully Gus can find similar ways to improve and be back better than ever.
He is currently the No. 1 ranked Lightheavyweight in the world. But with champ Daniel Cormier looking to get back in the cage, the UFC has set him up against rising Swiss challenger Volkan Oezdemir for UFC 220 on Jan. 20 in Boston.
However, that matchup is complicated by Oezdemir’s Nov. 18 arrest for aggravated assault, stemming from an Aug. 12 incident at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla. bar in which he allegedly punched two men and knocked them unconscious. “No Time” and his team have claimed self-defense, and it seems unlikely that the charges will disqualify him from the title shot.
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