Daniel Cormier (Esther Lin/MMA Fighting)Daniel Cormier and Dan Henderson to Co-Headline UFC 173 Trey Downey April 23, 2014 News, Spotlight A heavily rumored fight announcement was made official on Wednesday afternoon. Daniel Cormier and Dan Henderson will co-headline UFC 173 in a light heavyweight bout. UFC President Dana White made the announcement today on ESPN’s Sportscenter. White also confirmed that the winner of the fight will receive a shot at the light heavyweight championship. The news is no surprise for Cormier. The undefeated fighter was heavily considered for a title shot after dropping down from heavyweight. Cormier didn’t get that shot, however, and ended up steamrolling late replacement fighter Patrick Cummins. Henderson is in a completely different realm. The veteran recently turned around a losing streak with a dramatic comeback knockout of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Before that fight, Henderson had dropped three straight to Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort. It looked like the same fate was in store for him against Rua, but his fortunes seemed to have changed because of one “H-Bomb.” The fight certainly adds star power to the recently shaken-up UFC 173 card. Originally, the card was scheduled to be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida and co-headlined by a heavyweight contender bout between Junior dos Santos and Stipe Miocic. Injuries and other circumstances caused both of those fights to be postponed, but now the Memorial Day Weekend card has a nice top two fights with the clash between Cormier and Henderson going on right before a bantamweight title fight between Renan Barao and T.J. Dillashaw. UFC 173 takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 24. The main card airs live on pay-per-view.
