UFC locks down pay-per-view schedule with UFC 165, UFC 166, UFC 167, UFC 168

LAS VEGAS – The UFC will close out its pay-per-view calendar in 2013 with title fights in Toronto, Houston and Las Vegas, all made official on Saturday night.

UFC President Dana White officially announced UFC 165, UFC 166, UFC 167 and UFC 168, which will take place over the last four months of the year. White made the announcement at the start of the post-event news conference for UFC 162 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, which MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) attended.

All four cards had been previously reported, but now are made official by the UFC. Prior to the those fights, the UFC will take the headliners from those cards on a multi-city press tour that will include the host cities, the headliners’ home cities and other key cities across the country.

UFC 165 takes place Sept. 21 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto and features a light heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and top contender Alexander Gustafsson. The co-main event will be an interim bantamweight title fight between Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland.

UFC 166 heads to Houston’s Toyota Centre on Oct. 19 for a heavyweight title fight – and trilogy bout – between champion Cain Velasquez and former champ Junior dos Santos. The two have fought twice before, with each winning one bout.

UFC 167 takes place Nov. 16 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will feature a welterweight title fight between champ Georges St-Pierre and top contender Johny Hendricks.

Then on Dec. 28, the UFC returns to Vegas for UFC 168, its annual year-end card, which will feature a rematch between women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and former Strikeforce champ Miesha Tate, who currently are coaching opposite each other on the taping of Season 18 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which begins airing in September.

Of the UFC’s nine titles, five of them will be on the line over those four events. Three of the other four – flyweight, featherweight and lightweight – will be contested over the next eight weeks. The middleweight title changed hands Saturday at UFC 162 when Chris Weidman knocked out Anderson Silva in an upset.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Ronda Rousey)