Up-and-coming light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson has been tasked with facing veteran Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 141.

Gustafsson’s manager, Manos Terzitane of Euro Elite, confirmed to Sherdog.com his client’s participation in the bout, which is expected to take place Dec. 30 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The matchup was originally booked for August’s UFC 133 in Philadelphia. However, Matyushenko withdrew from the bout due to an undisclosed injury.

The fight will join one of the year’s most highly anticipated matchups, as heavyweights Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem will headline the card. The UFC has also confirmed a battle of welterweight wrestlers, with Jon Fitch making his return to the Octagon to face Johny Hendricks.

Gustafsson (12-1, 4-1 UFC) will look to best his second consecutive elite wrestler, as he recently dispatched Matt Hamill, Matyushenko’s replacement at UFC 133. The Swede has been on a roll, with three straight stoppages in the Octagon, including previous submissions over Cyrille Diabate and James Te Huna.

After making short work in his UFC debut with a 41 second KO over Jared Hamman in 2009, “The Mauler” suffered his lone loss to Phil Davis at UFC 112 last year. Gustafsson (Pictured) now spends part of each camp working with Phil Davis at Alliance MMA.

Matyushenko (26-5, 7-3 UFC) has won five of his last six bouts, and will reenter the cage eight months to the day of his last bout. “The Janitor” outpointed both Igor Pokrajac and Eliot Marshall in his second run with the UFC before losing to current light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC Live 2 last year.

The former International Fight League light heavyweight champion, has since strung together back-to-back wins, with a TKO of Alexandre Ferreira at UFC 122 and a 20-second knockout against Jason Brilz in April.

Source -