UFC exec Garry Cook: 'No one fighter is bigger than' UFC on FUEL TV 9

STOCKHOLM – Little-known Swedish light heavyweight Ilir Latifi soon will headline a UFC event for one simple reason: The show must go on.

UFC officials insist they did not take the decision lightly but ultimately believe the right choice was made.

“We looked at every option,” UFC Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Europe, Middle East and Africa Garry Cook told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I’ll be very clear: We always look at all the options, and the guys are great at that. It [includes] everything from ‘Should we cancel the whole event?’ or ‘Should we move the date?’ And of course, none of that makes any sense.

“What we really wanted to do was meet (Gegard) Mousasi’s needs, and what he wanted to do was fight.”

Latifi, of course, is the surprise replacement for original UFC on FUEL TV 9 headliner Alexander Gustafsson, who was scheduled to face Mousasi at Saturday’s UFC on FUEL TV 9 event at Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe Arena. Gustafsson suffered a facial cut in training, and on Tuesday, the Swedish MMA Federation ultimately declared him unfit to fight.

With few clear options available, UFC officials ultimately settled on Latifi, one of Gustafsson’s training partners.

Cook said it’s important to remember that the headliner is just one of 13 bouts scheduled for the card and that it would have been irresponsible to scrap the whole event, especially with Mousasi willing to continue in the main event.

“Nobody is more disappointed than Alexander; I can guarantee you that,” Cook said. “But it’s our job. We have a lot of fighters on the card. No one fighter is bigger than the UFC event, and so it’s important for us then to work really hard to find a replacement. You’ve got to defer to the experts, Joe Silva and Dana White, and they asked Mousasi what he wanted to do.

“He was adamant that he wanted to fight. Alexander was adamant that he had a guy who could replace him, obviously through one of his training partners. So it was a natural matchup, and everybody is excited by it – none more so than those two fighters. And Latifi, what a great opportunity.”

The greatest of opportunities, in fact. Less than 24 hours ago, most MMA mans had no idea who “The Sledgehammer” really is. Truth be told, most still really don’t, and oddsmakers have installed him as a nearly-unheard-of 13-to-1 underdog.

Cook isn’t trying to hard-sell Lafiti as the next big thing, but he does point out the 29-year-old has the chance to accomplish something very unique.

“That’s why we love the sport: It can go either way,” Cook said. “I worked in soccer. It can hit the bar. It can hit the post. It can go either way, but this sport, it can happen like that, and all of a sudden you can be in 160 countries on national television, and you can be the hero and the star. What a great story.”

Of course, many ticket holders aren’t likely to be quite as optimistic. After all, they bought tickets to see “The Mauler,” a budding national treasure who seems destined to fight for a title in the near future. Instead they’re seeing a replacement opponent that both Swedish media and fans are largely panning.

Cook admits it’s certainly not an ideal situation, but he believes the UFC still will deliver for fans in attendance.

“We’re in the commercial world, and a lot of people have spent hard-earned money to come to a UFC event, and I think that’s the clear message,” Cook said. “It’s not just about Alexander. We understand people have a preference to see Alexander, and we get that. But there are seven Swedish fighters on the card. There are four fighters who are debuting on Saturday night. What a great opportunity to see the beginning of a career that moves on. We like to think of fans as UFC fans. We understand they’ve got player preferences, fighter preferences, in sport. We understand that. We haven’t seen the feedback yet because obviously this is new information to a lot of people, but we’ll be monitoring that.

“At the end of the day, I’m excited about the event. … We’ve tried to fulfill the needs that are required by the fans. Would I wish Alexander to be fighting on Saturday night? Sure. Would Alexander love to be fighting on Saturday night? Sure. Would the fans love to see it? Sure. But unfortunately, we have to adapt, and everything is subject to change.”

For more on UFC on FUEL TV 9, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Garry Cook)