The UFC was put in a very precarious situation this week when Alexander Gustafsson suffered a cut over his eyebrow bad enough that the Swedish Mixed Martial Arts Federation wouldn’t clear him to fight Gegard Mousasi this Saturday in the main event of UFC on FUEL TV 9 in Gustafsson’s hometown of Stockholm, Sweden.
With the card just a few days away, the UFC was left scrambling to find a replacement opponent for Gustafsson so that they could at least still have Mousasi headline the event. The man they found to replace Gustafsson is a training partner of the Swede, a fighter that goes by the name of Ilir Latifi. And no, I haven’t heard of him before today, either.
Even UFC president Dana White has never heard of this guy, because he tweeted out today that Mousasi was fighting someone named “Ilir Latifa,” obviously spelling his last name wrong. I think that says it all right there.
This is as blatant of a mismatch that the UFC has ever put on. When the betting odds for this fight were released yesterday, Mousasi opened as a massive -2000 favorite, with Latifi being a +1000 underdog. There has been some early action on the underdog, but Mousasi will likely get some more action on him closer to the fight and it’s possible he closes as the biggest favorite in UFC history despite the fact this is his debut with the promotion.
But even though this is Mousasi’s first fight in the UFC, everyone knows how talented of a fighter he is is. A veteran of PRIDE, DREAM, and Strikeforce, Mousasi is one of the best pound-for-pound mixed martial artists in the world, and the fight against Gustafsson was expected to be a terrific match. But obviously it’s not happening anymore, and instead Mousasi is fighting a guy who wasn’t even in the UFC yesterday morning.
I know the UFC was in a tough spot, and I’m glad that the fans at least still get to see Mousasi fight, but this isn’t a competitive fight at all. Literally, the only way that Latifi is going to win is if he somehow gets a fluke punch that knocks Mousasi out (highly unlikely), if Mousasi has an in-fight injury (also unlikely), or if for some reason the fight goes to the scorecards and the hometown judges give it to Latifi (also highly unlikely). Basically, this is as big of a mismatch as you’ll ever see in the UFC, and the steep odds are pretty much dead on for what should prove to be a very one-sided fight.
Sure, I can understand the FUEL card had to go on, but how can the fans in Sweden who paid good money for their tickets to the live event be happy? Now, instead of seeing their hero in Gustafsson try and earn a light heavyweight title shot in front of them, they are instead treated to a fight that no one cares about.
Don’t be surprised if this FUEL card does record-low ratings for the UFC because, between this poor main event and the lackluster co-main event between Ryan Couture and Ross Pearson, this is one of those cards that the UFC is likely to look back on in a few years and shake their head about.
Let’s just hope the UFC finally learns their lesson this time and books a suitable co-main event for every card in the future just in case something like the cut to Gustafsson happens, because this is MMA and literally anything can happen – and often, it does.
But not this weekend, because Latifi is losing. Now the only question is how.
UFC on FUEL TV 9: Gustafsson vs. Mousasi is due to take place on April 6, 2013 at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.
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