A light-heavyweight bout between Olympic wrestling veterans Daniel Cormier and Dan Henderson has been made official for UFC 173.
The fight will serve as the co-main event for the show that takes place May 24 in Las Vegas.
Cormier (14-0) is unbeaten in his three UFC fights since moving over from Strikeforce last year. He won his 205-pound debut at UFC 170 in February, defeating Patrick Cummins by first-round TKO. The 35-year-old holds notable wins over heavyweight stars Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, Josh Barnett and Antonio Silva.
Henderson (30-11) is coming off a dramatic knockout of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in March. The win snapped a three-fight losing streak that included dropping split decisions to Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans and being knocked out by Vitor Belfort.
The winner of Cormier-Henderson will be awarded a title shot once Alexander Gustafsson faces the winner of UFC 172’s Jon Jones vs Glover Teixeira.
Here is a look at the UFC 173 card to date:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)
— Renan Barao vs T.J. Dillashaw
— Dan Henderson vs Daniel Cormier
— Robbie Lawler vs Jake Ellenberger
— Takeya Mizugaki vs Francisco Rivera
— Jamie Varner vs James Krause
PRELIMINARY CARD (SPORTSNET 360)
— Michael Chiesa vs Francisco Trinaldo
— Tony Ferguson vs Katsunori Kikuno
— Chris Holdsworth vs Chico Camus
— Al Iaquinta vs Mitch Clarke
ONLINE PRELIMS (UFC Fight Pass)
— Anthony Njokuani vs Vinc Pichel
— Danny Mitchell vs Li Jingliang
Ellenberger’s UFC debut delayed
Joe Ellenberger, the twin brother of UFC welterweight contender Jake Ellenberger, has been pulled from Saturday’s UFC 172 preliminary card after his opponent, Vagner Rocha, withdrew due to an injury.
Ellenberger (14-1) was originally scheduled to fight Yancy Medeiros, however Medeiros moved up to fight Jim Miller on the main card when Miller’s initial opponent, Bobby Green, pulled out.
Jury vs Trujillo on tap
A bout between rising lightweight contenders Myles Jury and Abel Trujillo has been added to the June 28 UFC Fight Night event in San Antonio.
Jury (14-0) has won five straight since a stint on TUF Live in 2012. He’s coming off a unanimous decision win over popular veteran Diego Sanchez at UFC 171 in March. The heavy-handed Trujillo (12-5, 1 NC) has knocked out his last two opponents.
Also added to the card were a pair of middleweight scraps, as Antonio Braga Neto faces TUF 17’s Clint Hester and Cezar Ferreira meets Andrew Craig.
Jorgensen hopes to end streak
Former WEC title challenger Scott Jorgensen will look to avoid losing his sixth bout in his last seven outings when he takes on Danny Martinez in a featherweight tilt at UFC Fight Night in Albuquerque July 7.
Jorgensen (14-9) is 0-2 since dropping down from the bantamweight division, while Martinez (16-5) lost his UFC debut in February.
