Alexander Gustafsson returns against Jan Blachowicz at UFC Hamburg

Alexander Gustafsson has been on the wrong end of two devastatingly close decisions in his championship fights vs. Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier. The Swedish light heavyweight contender lost by unanimous decision to Jones in 2013, then dropped a split decision against Cormier last October. Having lost 3 of his last 4 bouts, Gustafsson is taking what is perhaps a very necessary step down in competition for his first UFC fight in 2016. On Friday, UFC officials confirmed that Gustafsson will fight Jan Blachowicz at UFC Fight Night 93 in Hamburg, Germany on September 3rd.

Gustafsson's (16-4) last win is a knockout of Jimi Manuwa in March 2014. He was placed in a top contender matchup vs. Anthony Johnson at UFC on FOX in Stockholm, Sweden in January 2015, but suffered a 1st round knockout loss to Rumble. Despite the loss, Gustafsson ended up fighting for the LHW title anyway, engaging in a classic battle with Cormier at UFC 192.

Blachowicz (19-5) snapped a two-fight losing streak with a unanimous decision win over Igor Pokrajac at UFC Zagreb in April. The native of Poland had suffered defeats against Jimi Manuwa and Corey Anderson in what was a winless 2015 for him. The KSW veteran's UFC debut came in October 2014 in Sweden, where he knocked out Ilir Latifi with a body kick and punches in just 2 minutes.

UFC Fight Night in Hamburg is headlined by a heavyweight matchup between longtime veterans and former UFC champions Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett. Ilir Latifi vs. Ryan Bader is the other feature fight on this UFC Fight Pass event, and the promotion also announced a bantamweight clash between Brad Pickett and Henry Briones for this event.