Alexander Gustafsson has been on the sidelines waiting for an opportunity, and now he has one at UFC 227 on August 4th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The “Mauler” is coming off a fifth-round KO of Glover Teixeira at UFC in Stockholm back in May 2017, and will seek his third against Volkan Oezdemir.

It is a surprising move that break’s up the scheduled bout between Mauricio Rua and Oezdemir at UFC Hamburg on July 22. It is being reported that Anthony Smith will step in to replace “No Time.”

The Swiss fighter was last in action at UFC 220 where he suffered a TKO early to the champ Daniel Cormier.

Gustafsson’s management team confirmed the rumors. “It’s on! The Mauler is back!!”

UFC 227 is stacked with both the bantamweight and flyweight title on the line as Champ T.J. Dillashaw takes on Cody Garbrandt and Champ Demetrious Johnson faces Henry Cejudo.