Daniel Cormier vs. Dan Henderson is now official as co-main event of UFC 173

A rumored light heavyweight bout is now official as Daniel Cormier will meet Dan Henderson in the co-main event of UFC 173 on May 24th in Las Vegas.UFC 173 Poster

UFC President Dana White made the announcement on ESPN today.

UFC 173 will come from the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 24th and will be headlined by Renan Barao defending the bantamweight title against T.J. Dillashaw.

Cormier (13-0) dropped down to the light heavyweight division in his last fight, which was scheduled to be against former champion Rashad Evans. However, Evans suffered an injury and Cormier ended up facing Patrick Cummins. He would only need 79 seconds to get the victory and it was his sixth career win by TKO/KO.

Henderson (30-11) is coming off a come from behind victory against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at last month’s UFC Fight Night 38 and it snapped a three fight losing streak. During his appearance on ESPN today, which said that Henderson had to go to Nevada to make sure his testosterone levels were in the legal limit since he just came off testosterone replacement therapy.

The current UFC 173: Barao vs. Dillashaw fight card is below.

Main Card: (PPV – 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)
Renan Barao (32-1, 1NC) vs. T.J. Dillashaw (9-2)
Daniel Cormier (13-0) vs. Dan Henderson (30-11)
Robbie Lawler (22-10, 1NC) vs. Jake Ellenberger (29-7)
Takeya Mizugaki (19-7-2) vs. Francisco Rivera (10-2, 1NC)
Jamie Varner (21-9-1 2NC) vs. James Krause (20-5)

Preliminary Card: (Fox Sports 1 – 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
Michael Chiesa (10-1) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (14-3)
Tony Ferguson (14-3) vs. Katsunori Kikuno (22-5-2)
Chris Holdsworth (5-0) vs. Chico Camus (14-4)
Al Iaquinta (8-2-1) vs. Mitch Clarke (10-2)

Preliminary Card: (Fight Pass – 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT)
Anthony Njokunai (16-7, 1NC) vs. Vinc Pichel (8-1)
Sam Sicilia (12-4) vs. Doo Ho Choi (11-1)
Jingliang Li (8-2) vs. Danny Mitchell (14-5-1)