A bout between light heavyweights Daniel Cormier and Dan Henderson just got a lot more interesting.
Cormier and Henderson meet at UFC 175 on July 5. Both fighters have verbally agreed to the bout. It will serve as the co-main event for the event headlined by Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida.
Cormier was originally scheduled to face Rafael Cavalcante at the same event. But the promotion opted to give the fight to Henderson after his stunning come-from-behind win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua last month.
Cormier was expected to be next in line for a title shot with a win. But on UFC Tonight, Ariel Helwani reported that the winner of the fight will get the next title shot after Alexander Gustafsson. That includes Henderson, who had lost three consecutive fights before beating Rua.
Cormier is coming off a successful light heavyweight debut at UFC 170, where he beat Patrick Cummins. The win moved his career record to 14-0. All but one of his wins came in the heavyweight division, where he was a top contender. But Cormier opted to leave the division rather than face teammate Cain Velasquez, the UFC's current heavyweight champion.
UFC 175 is one of the UFC's hallmark pay-per-view events of the year. It takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas during International Fight Week 2014. The following day, The Ultimate Fighter 19 finale, featuring Frankie Edgar vs. B.J. Penn, will take place in the same venue. It is the third meeting between Edgar and Penn, with Edgar holding two victories. It will also serve as Penn's featherweight debut after years of competing in higher weight classes.
