A light heavyweight bout has been added to UFC 156 on February 2nd with former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans meeting Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.
This fight has been rumored for the past couple of weeks and UFC officials announced today that the fight has been verbally agreed on.
Evans (17-2-1) has not been in action since UFC 145 in April when he was defeated by light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Prior to his lost to Jones, he had won four in a row, which included wins over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Tito Ortiz and Phil Davis.
Prior to accepting the fight with Nogueira, he had flirted with the idea of dropping down to the middleweight division. However, he ended up deciding that he would not drop down in weight.
Nogueira (20-5) has gone 3-2 in the UFC and snapped a two fight losing streak with a TKO victory over Tito Ortiz last year at UFC 140. He was scheduled to return at UFC on FUEL TV 2 against Alexander Gustafsson, but he had to pull out of the fight with an injury.
UFC 156 takes place on February 2nd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center and will be headlined by Jose Aldo defending the UFC featherweight title against former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.