Weidman-Belfort, Rousey-Zingano to headline UFC 184 in L.A.
The upcoming women's bantamweight title fight between Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano will move to Feb. 28 to be the co-main event for UFC 184 in L.A. with Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort as the headliner, the UFC announced Wednesday.
The show will take place at Staples Center, UFC president Dana White announced on Instagram.
Rousey vs. Zingano originally was to be the co-main event for the Jan. 3 UFC 182 fight card, with Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier as the headline bout of the evening. There was no reason given for the switch, although timing and location may have worked out better for the Feb. 28 card.
Zingano battled Amanda Nunes at UFC 178 for nearly three rounds before finishing the fight in the latter part of the third round, and she may have needed additional time off. Rousey also lives in the Los Angeles area and certainly will have a large local presence when it comes to ticket sales.
Rousey meets Zingano almost two years after the fighters were first scheduled to face off. Zingano won the opportunity to face Rousey in her debut UFC fight when she picked up a TKO victory over Miesha Tate. Unfortunately, Zingano suffered a torn ACL in her knee weeks later and was knocked out of the competition.
With her knee repaired, Zingano stormed back in September to beat Nunes by TKO and earn another crack at Rousey.
Meanwhile, Weidman finally will meet Belfort after three scheduling switches caused delays in the fight. Belfort is on a three-fight winning streak since being submitted by Jon Jones at UFC 152, while Weidman is undefeated in eight career UFC fights with two victories over Anderson Silva. Weidman looks to further cement his spot as the best middleweight in the sport.
With the Rousey-Zingano fight changing dates, a lightweight bout between Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and Myles Jury will be the co-main event at UFC 182. More fights are expected to be announced for the UFC 184 card in the coming weeks.
