A middleweight title fight between Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort will headline UFC 181 Dec. 6 in Las Vegas.
The UFC officially announced the matchup Tuesday just minutes after the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) granted Belfort a conditional license to compete in the state after he failed a drug test in February for high levels of testosterone.
Weidman and Belfort were originally scheduled to meet at UFC 173 in May, but the Brazilian was pulled from the event after the NSAC unanimously passed a motion in February to ban therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone replacement therapy, of which Belfort was a longtime user.
Belfort (24-10) has earned head-kick knockouts of Dan Henderson, Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping in his last three fights, but hasn’t fought since Nov. 9.
UFC 181 will mark the first time Belfort, 37, has fought in the United States since UFC 133 in August 2011. The last time he competed in Nevada was his loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 126, which subsequently was the last time he fought for the UFC middleweight title.
Weidman (12-0) is coming off a unanimous decision win over Machida at UFC 175 in what is considered an early Fight of the Year candidate. The 30-year-old Baldwin, N.Y., native also has two wins over Anderson Silva and has defeated the likes of Demian Maia, Mark Munoz and Uriah Hall since making his MMA debut in 2009.
A lightweight title bout between TUF 20 coaches Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez is also tentatively scheduled to take place at that event, which is set for the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
