Anthony Pettis vs. Dustin Poirier official as UFC Fight Night 120 headliner

UFC Fight Night 120 has a main event you won’t want to miss.

The UFC announced late Wednesday that former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will take on Dustin Poirier in the headliner of the FS1-televised event Nov. 11 at Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Va.

Pettis (20-6 MMA, 7-5 UFC) had called for a matchup with Poirier (21-5 MMA, 13-4 UFC) and will get his wish. The bout was first confirmed last month by Pettis’ longtime head coach and mentor on social media.

Pettis, No. 11 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings, has had an up-and-down run over the past few years. After dropping the 155-pound belt in March 2015, “Showtime” suffered four losses in five fights.

Part of Pettis’ skid included a failed stint in the featherweight division. He won one 145-pound fight before an interim title bout with Max Holloway at UFC 206 in December. It didn’t go Pettis’ way, and it prompted a return to the lightweight division, where he recently earned a unanimous-decision win over Jim Miller at UFC 213 in July.

No. 14-ranked Poirier, meanwhile, made his most recent octagon appearance at UFC 211 in March, where he had a firefight with former 155-pound champ Eddie Alvarez. The fight ended in a controversial no-contest after Alvarez landed a series of illegal knees.

UFC Fight Night 120 marks Poirier’s second UFC headliner in Virginia; he suffered a fourth-round submission loss to Chan Sung Jung in the UFC on FUEL TV 3 main event in May 2012, which took place in Fairfax.

The latest UFC Fight Night 120 card includes:

• Anthony Pettis vs. Dustin Poirier
• Matt Brown vs. Diego Sanchez
• Nina Ansaroff vs. Angela Hill
• Cezar Ferreira vs. Nate Marquardt
• Karl Roberson vs. Darren Stewart
• Jake Collier vs. Marcel Fortuna
• Junior Albini vs. Andrei Arlovski
• Court McGee vs. Sean Strickland
• Clay Guida vs. Joe Lauzon
• Viviane Pereira vs. Tatiana Suarez
• John Dodson vs. Marlon Moraes

For more on UFC Fight Night 120, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.