Rashad Evans announces he’s fighting Daniel Cormier at UFC 170 in Feb.
The UFC’s worst kept secret is no longer a secret.
Rashad Evans announced Friday night on FOX Sports 2 that his long rumored fight with Daniel Cormier is a done deal -- it’ll be the five-round main event of UFC 170 on Feb. 22 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Cormier (13-0), who just signed a new UFC deal, will be making his highly anticipated light heavyweight debut after going 7-0 as a heavyweight in Strikeforce and the UFC, including a decision win over Roy Nelson at UFC 166 in October. His move down has plenty to do with the fact that heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is his good friend and training partner at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose.
Evans (19-3-1), the former UFC light heavyweight champion, is coming off a dominant TKO win over Chael Sonnen at UFC 167 last month. He has won two straight and could be inching closer to a rematch with champion Jon Jones.
In fact, the winner of this fight would put himself right in the conversation for a title shot. Jones has his hands full -- he meets Glover Teixeira at UFC 171 in March and could have a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson later in 2014 if Gustafsson gets by Jimi Manuwa at England’s UFC Fight Night in March.
But, with a win at UFC 170, Evans or Cormier would stake a claim as one of the elite fighters in the 205-pound division.
