UFC 197 main card set, and man, does it look good

There are still a few fights left to announce for next month’s UFC 197 event, but the five-fight pay-per-view lineup is looking pretty fantastic.

UFC officials recently announced the evening’s five-fight main card, headlined by a pair of championship matchups and backed up by three contests that all have the potential for fireworks.

UFC 197 takes place April 23 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The night’s main event sees current UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) put his title on the line against former champ and longtime rival Jon Jones (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC).

The co-main event sees UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson (23-2-1 MMA, 11-1-1 UFC) put his belt on the line against undefeated contender and former Olympic wrestling gold medalist Henry Cujudo (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC).

Additional main card contests include a likely lightweight slugfest with Edson Barboza (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) vs. Anthony Pettis (18-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC), Brazilian middleweight Rafael Natal (21-6-1 MMA, 9-4-1 UFC) vs. Robert Whittaker (15-4 MMA, 6-2 UFC) and an intriguing contest between featherweight prospects Andre Fili (15-3 MA, 3-2 UFC) and Yair Rodriguez (6-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC).

Additional contests are expected to be announced shortly.

The current UFC 197 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Champ Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones – for light heavyweight title
• Champ Demetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo – for flyweight title
• Edson Barboza vs. Anthony Pettis
• Rafael Natal vs. Robert Whittaker
• Andre Fili vs. Yair Rodriguez

PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX Sports 1)

• Danny Roberts vs. Dominique Steele
• Jessica Aguilar vs. Juliana Lima
• Glaico Franca vs. James Vick

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass)

• Chris Kelades vs. Sergio Pettis
• Clint Hester vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima
• Efrain Escudero vs. Kevin Lee

For more on UFC 197, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.