By Jamie McAllister:

On April 14th The UFC makes the long awaited return with the UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva card. The Ericsson Globe Arena will play host to this event which is the first UFC event to be held in Sweden which is stacked with fighters from all over the globe and a heavy contingent will be from Europe. The event is said to have sold out in just three hours.

In the main event Alexander Gustafsson who recently has been on a tear following a first round submission loss to Phil Davis which prompted the Gustafsson to take his training to Alliance MMA in California to train with his former opponent Davis and the Alliance team. Since then Gustafsson has been on a four fight win streak where he has finished all of his opponents submitting Cyril Diabate & James Te-Huna both via rear naked choke as well as TKO victories over Matt Hamill & Vladimir Matyushenko. On the other side will be Thiago Silva who steps in to take the place of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and returning from over a year on the sidelines due to suspension. In his last outing Silva looked very impressive dominating Brandon Vera as well as rearranging his face. Both men favour a striking based battle with Gustafsson having finished 9 of his 14 bouts via Knockout & Silva having finished 11 of his 14 victories via knockout don’t expect this one to go the distance.

Brian Stann will make his return after his submission loss to Chael Sonnen before that loss Stann had been seen as a possible contender for the middleweight title and will be looking to finish this one in impressive fashion to get back on track. His opponent Alessio Sakara who since his last decision loss to Chris Weidman has been plagued by injuries which have lead to him have to pull out from a fight against Jorge Rivera and has been out for just over a year. Both men prefer to strike and before his loss against Sonnen Stann had finished all his fights inside the distance and Sakara a former boxer and knock out of the night winner. However Sakara in his decision loss to Chris Weidman was heavily controlled and dominated with wrestling will Stann have further developed his wrestling game to take the fight to the ground and use this to his advantage ?

Making his Octagon debut is Siyar Bahadurzada an Afghan mixed martial artist who faces off against UFC veteran Paulo Thiago who is coming off a dominant victory over David Mitchell at UFC 134. Bahadurzada who is a former Shooto Light Heavy Weight Champion previously a member of the Golden Glory team has a excellent striking base & holds a victory over John Alessio via first round knockout. In this one Thiago will be looking to get back to the heights he once reached when he knocked out top welterweight contender Josh Koscheck in the first round. With his black belt grappling will be looking to get the fight to the ground and get the win where as Bahadurzada might be looking to keep it standing and get the victory that way.

Denis Siver makes his Featherweight debut coming of submission loss to Donald Cerrone facing Siver is the always exiting Diego Nunes who moved camps from Nova Uniao to Black House. Siver will be looking to get inside and use his powerful striking and trademark spinning back kick to get the victory. Nunes has been working alongside world class wrestling coach Kenny Johnson and will be looking to use his wide array of kicking techniques and advanced striking to his advantage. Don’t be surprised if on of the bonuses go the way of this fight !

Brit John Maguire is also on the card as he looks to continue his winning streak most recently with a victory over Justin Edwards who featured on TUF. He faces of against DaMarques Johnson who is coming off an impressive stoppage of Clay Harvison displaying good boxing skills and gaining the first round finish via punches. Maguire proved in his last bout that some Brits can grapple getting an impressive six takedowns and passing at will. This one could end up to be a striker vs. grappler match.

Brad Pickett will be looking to get his name back in the winners circle after losing to the man with the most impressive winning streak in martial arts Renan Barao. The man standing in his way is Damacio Page who also has been without a win dropping his last two via guillotine to both Brian Bowles & Demetrious Johnson. Both former WEC fighters looking to get there first victories inside the UFC. This one is another exiting fixture on the card.

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