On Thursday afternoon UFC officials announced the middleweight title fight between reigning UFC champion Chris Weidman and former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will serve as the co-main event of UFC 194 in December.

Weidman (13-0) was last seen defending his title against Vitor Belfort after finishing the Brazilian with vicious ground and pout and UFC 187 last month.  This marked his first apperance in side the cage since he was seen defending his belt with a hard-fought decision win over Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 last July.

Prior to this win, the Serra-Longo product defended his title at UFC 168 against former middleweight champion and pound-for-pound best Anderson Silva, the very man he won the belt from when he shocked the world at UFC 162 in July 2013. He will enter this bout with nine career stoppage victories, including six by way of knockout.

“He’s not great anywhere,” said Weidman during an appearance on SportsCenter. “I’m taking him very serious and I’m gonna be ready for the best Luke Rockhold we’ve seen. And I’m gonna take him out quick.”

Rockhold (13-2) will be looking to earn up his fifth straight win inside the Octagon. In his most recent outing, Rockhold standout walked away with an impressive third round submission victory over Machida at UFC on FOX 16 last month.

This marked Rockhold’s third straight submission win with his previous two coming against Micahel Bisping and Tim Boetsch. He also scored a TKO over Costas Philippou. He will enter this bout with 12 career stoppage wins, including eight by way of knockout, and a UFC record of 4-1.

UFC 194 is currently set to take place on Dec. 12 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. A featherweight title fight between reigning champion Jose Aldo and interim champion Conor McGregor will serve as the night’s headlining act.

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José began his career as a mixed martial arts journalist while still enrolled at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University. Since graduating in May 2013, he has attended dozens of high profile UFC fight cards as a credentialed member of the media, providing live cage side coverage through his articles and videos. His work has appeared on UFC.com, ArizonaSports.com and AZCentral. He is also currently one of the main contributors on Power MMA Show at Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, one of the first all MMA radio shows on a major radio station.