Volkan Oezdemir Pulled from UFC Hamburg Headliner, Meets Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 227

At long last, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has found an opponent for Alexander Gustafsson.

The two-time light heavyweight title challenger will face Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 227 in Los Angeles on Aug. 4. Oezdemir was pulled from a proposed 205-pound clash with Mauricio Rua scheduled for the UFC Fight Night Hamburg main event on July 22. A replacement opponent for “Shogun” is currently being sought by the promotion.

ESPN was first to report the matchup. UFC 227 takes place at the Staples Center and is headlined by a bantamweight championship rematch between T.J. Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt.

Gustafsson will return to action for the first time in more than a year at UFC 227. The 31-year-old Swede is coming off back-to-back triumphs over Glover Teixeira and Jan Blachowicz. He has twice challenged for 205-pound gold, dropping a thrilling five-round verdict against Jon Jones at UFC 165 before losing a split decision to current champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 192.

Oezdemir began his promotional tenure with a bang, earning victories over Ovince St. Preux, Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa in his first three appearances — the latter two via first-round knockout. That earned him a title shot against Cormier at UFC 220, but “No Time” was overwhelmed en route to a second-round stoppage loss in their Jan. 20 encounter.