Alexander Gustafsson was expected to welcome former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold to the light-heavyweight division at UFC 227 but Rockhold is out with a leg injury.
Instead, Gustafsson will now face Volkan Oezdemir at the Aug. 4 event at Staples Center in Los Angeles, the promotion announced Thursday.
Gustafsson (18-4) hasn’t competed since a devastating knockout win over Glover Teixeira in May of 2017, while Oezdemir (15-2) is looking to bounce back from a second-round tenchical knockout loss to 205-pound champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 220 in January.
The event is scheduled to be headlined by a bantamweight title rematch between champion T.J. Dillashaw and former champ Cody Garbrandt. Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson will look to extend his consecutive title defences record to 12 as he takes on Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medallist Henry Cejudo for a second time in the co-main event.
Here’s a look at the tentative fight card to date:
— T.J. Dillashaw vs. Cody Garbrandt
— Demetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo
— Alexander Gustafsson vs. Volkan Oezdemir
— Cub Swanson vs. Renato Moicano
— Bethe Correia vs. Irene Aldana
— Wuliji Buren vs. Bharat Khandare
— Danielle Taylor vs. Zhang Weili
— Ricardo Ramos vs. Kyung Ho Kang
— Benito Lopez vs. Ricky Simon
— Polyana Viana vs. J.J. Aldrich
— Pedro Munhoz vs. Brett Johns
— Sheymon Moraes vs. Matt Sayles
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