A light-heavyweight bout between contenders Rashad Evans and Daniel Cormier has been tabbed as the main event for UFC 170. The event is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas on Feb. 22.
The matchup could be a bit awkward for the two men since they are co-workers on FOX’s UFC team.
In fact, Evans confirmed the fight announcement while providing analysis for Friday’s UFC Fight Night 33 card.
“It’s bittersweet for me. That means that we’re both climbing the ranks, and we’re both in the upper echelon of competition, but at the same time, I don’t want to fight DC,” Evans explained. “DC and I go way back from college, so now we’re going to have to fight each other.”
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This will be the second consecutive bout where Evans, a former UFC light-heavyweight champion, has fought a friend and colleague. In his last outing, Evans TKO’d his fellow FOX analyst Chael Sonnen at UFC 167.
“[Cormier’s] another fighter that I talk to almost all the time, and he’s a really good friend of mine, so it’s going to be hard. I’ve been sick over it for the last few days,” Evans added.
Evans (19-3-1) has won two straight fights and looking to work his way back into title contention.
Cormier (13-0) will be making his 205-pound debut and holds wins over notable heavyweights Roy Nelson, Frank Mir, Josh Barnett, Antonio Silva and Soa Palelei.
