Gustafsson: It’s f@$%ing crazy

Alexander Gustafsson was supposed to fight Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 227 on August 4, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Then Oezdemir was hurt, and Anthony Smith wanted in after knocking out ‘Shogun’ Rua at UFC Fight Night 134 on July 22. Then Gustafsson announced he was injured. Smith found that ‘ironic’, but as Gus was pulled from UFC 227 on Friday, and Smith didn’t win until Sunday, unless ‘The Mauler’ has a Viking flux capacitor, the criticism is misguided.

It was before his fight, said Gustafsson on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. He hadn’t even fought when all this happened to me. What can I say? It was before Anthony Smith’s fight. I wouldn’t duck anyone. I’ll fight anyone. I’ll fight anyone but what can I do? It is what it is. I’m hurt.

All I can tell you is that I’ve been very frustrated, these couple of days. I feel like it doesn’t go my way, really. It’s just crazy. I don’t want to talk about my injury, it’s just a minor injury. It’s nothing to talk about really. It’s just a thing, and it gets on my nerves. But it is was it is. I’m here now, and I’ll do everything in my power to bounce back and I will in a couple of weeks.

It’s been frustrating. I don’t know what’s going on. I feel like I don’t have any flow right now. It’s just f***ing crazy, I’m telling you, I’m so frustrated because this was my card, this was my fight, then Volkan fell off. It was a fight that really motivated me, to fight Volkan. It’s the best fight for me and it makes the most sense. I felt great fighting him and everything but then he got injured, and you know, it is what it is. S*** happens. Whatever they put on the table, I’ll fight him. I’m in the best shape of my life, and then I got injured. I get injured from nowhere. It’s just crazy, that’s all I can say to you. It’s just crazy.

While Smith found it ‘ironic’ that Gus couldn’t fight, champ champ Daniel Cormier was furious, saying the pullout was such that DC would never deign to fight Gus again.

No, I haven’t seen that, said Gustafsson. I haven’t read it. I heard about it and I don’t even want to read it. I’m so up in my own thing now and I’ve been so frustrated, I don’t want to read it. It is what it is. There’s nothing I can do and he can write whatever he wants to write. I just want to prove to everybody that I want to get in there and fight but it’s not my luck. I’m telling you, it’s f***ing crazy.