Gegard Mousasi Has A New Opponent At UFC 200
The stacked UFC 200 card from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada is just a few weeks away as the monumental event will go down on July 9, 2016.
With so many pivotal fights filling out the card, a preliminary bout between middleweight contenders Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” Mousasi and Derek Brunson has flew under the radar, and unfortunately it won’t be taking place anymore.
According to an initial report from Sherdog which was later confirmed by MMAFighting.com, Brunson has been forced to withdraw from the fight due to unknown reasons. He has been riding a hot wave as of late, winning his last four bouts including three straight by TKO.
Mousasi, a former DREAM and Strikeforce champion, is coming off of a dominant unanimous decision win over the heavy handed Thales Leites last February.
After confirming that Brunson had pulled out of the fight via his official Twitter account, “The Dreamcatcher” called out newly minted 185-pound champion Michael Bipsing. While that bout is unlikely to take place at UFC 200, Mousasi also called out Uriah Hall and Vitor Belfort, two men who could serve as replacements:
I have been informed that @DerekBrunson is out. I am waiting to find a new opponent. I have trained hard for @ufc 200. Too hard not to fight
— Gegard Mousasi (@mousasi_mma) June 19, 2016
@ufc 200 is a big show. @bisping let’s do this. We were to fight in London and it got taken away from me. Let’s do it in Vegas at 200, Champ
— Gegard Mousasi (@mousasi_mma) June 19, 2016
I think the fans would also like to see me rematch @UriahHallMMA or finally fight @vitorbelfort . @ufc let’s make history!
— Gegard Mousasi (@mousasi_mma) June 19, 2016
But as it stands, Mousasi will face none of those marquee names, as MMA Fighting has reported he’ll instead apparently meet the lesser-known but perhaps more surging Thiago Santos at the summer spectacle.
