While appearing on UFC Tonight on Wednesday, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier announced that he would be defending his belt against number one contender Anthony “Rumble” Johnson at UFC 210 in Buffalo, New York on April 8th.
Cormier had been scheduled to defend his title against Johnson in the main event of UFC 206 in Toronto last December before having to pull out of the fight due to injury.
Their bout at UFC 210 will be a rematch of a May 2015 fight, which Cormier won via a third-round submission to capture the title. Cormier was nearly stopped in the first round of that fight but came back to win. He’s since defended against Alexander Gustafsson and beat Anderson Silva in a non-title matchup at UFC 200.
Johnson has scored three straight wins by knockout since the loss to Cormier, which was his only setback since January 2012, a span of 13 fights. The winner of Cormier vs. Johnson would be expected to defend against former champion Jon Jones, who is currently serving a suspension but is eligible to return in July.
A top middleweight contender’s fight between Chris Weidman and Gegard Mousasi is the only other fight announced for UFC’s return to Buffalo. UFC 210 will be the company’s first show in the city in over 20 years.