Rory MacDonald meets Demian Maia in welterweight bout at UFC 170 in February

Just a couple hours after booking the main event for UFC 170, the promotion has another big fight on tap for the card.

Rory MacDonald (15-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) will meet Demian Maia (18-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC) in a welterweight bout on the card in February. UFC officials announced the fight on Friday night.

UFC 170 takes place Feb. 22 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The main card, featuring a headliner between Rashad Evans and Daniel Cormier, airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and MMAjunkie.

MacDonald will be trying to rebound after an upset loss to Robbie Lawler in November at UFC 167. That loss, by split decision, snapped a five-fight winning streak for the young Canadian, who trains at Tristar Gym in Montreal with welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. On his streak, which came after the first loss of his career to Carlos Condit, “Ares” beat Nate Diaz, Mike Pyle, Che Mills, B.J. Penn and Jake Ellenberger to get into title talk – talk which he said was meaningless if it meant he’d have to fight mentor and teammate St-Pierre. The loss to Lawler made it moot, though, until he starts to climb back.

Maia is coming off a loss, as well – his first since dropping to welterweight from middleweight. He had a three-fight streak to start his move to 170 pounds with wins over Dong Hyun Kim, Rick Story and Jon Fitch. But in October in his home country of Brazil, he dropped a split decision to Jake Shields in a five-round main event.

With the addition, the UFC 170 card now includes:

• Daniel Cormier vs. Rashad Evans
• Rory MacDonald vs. Demian Maia
• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Rustam Khabilov

For the latest on UFC 170, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Rory MacDonald)