The Swedish MMA Federation (SMMAF) has confirmed that the UFC fighter Alexander Gustafsson is medically unfit to compete in the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 9.
Alexander’s medical issue came about over the weekend when he developed a cut over his eye while finishing up preparation for his April 6th bout in Stockholm at the Ericsson Globe Arena against former Strikeforce Champion Gegard Mousasi.
Clearly the laceration was too much for SMAAF as they released the following statement on Tuesday.
“According to SMMAF regulations the competitors in a match shall be examined by the certified appointed match doctor prior to the match,” the SMMAF wrote in a statement to MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani. “The examination is always carried out the day before the match, this is to safeguard that a competitor shall never be cleared for a match earlier than the day before the match.
“In the case of Alexander Gustafsson there was a request for an early indicative medical examination which was immediately performed on March 30th (Easter Eve). The federation doctors that performed the examination informed Gustafsson that his injury was of such a nature that it was very unlikely that he would be medically cleared for a match in the near future. These doctors did not have a mandate to stop the match at the time of that examination.
“The SMMAF Medical Committee has today reviewed the circumstances regarding Gustafsson and his injury,” the statement continued. “The SMMAF Medical Committee recognizes that a competitor cannot be medically cleared earlier than the day before the match. However, bearing in mind that a correct medical examination that met the regulatory demands has been performed, nothing in the SMMAF regulations hinders the SMMAF Medical Committee from making a decision to stop Gustafsson from competing. As it is clear that Alexander Gustafsson will not be fit to compete as planned and cannot be medically cleared on Friday the 5th of April, the SMMAF Medical Committee has today decided that Alexander Gustafsson will not be allowed to participate in the planned match on April 6th.”
At this time the UFC has yet to comment and a replacement has yet to be announced.