Chris Weidman, Ronda Rousey to defend titles at UFC 184
Long Island's Chris Weidman will defend his UFC middleweight title against Vitor Belfort at UFC 184 in Los Angeles on Feb. 28, 2015, the UFC announced Wednesday.
Belfort had announced the fight date earlier in the day on his social media accounts.
UFC president Dana White confirmed the bout and also added this: Ronda Rousey will defend her title against Cat Zingano in the co-main event at UFC 184.
Last week, the UFC had announced the women's bantamweight champion would be fighting Zingano at UFC 182 on Jan. 3 as the co-main event to Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier.
Weidman (12-0, 8-0) was scheduled to defend his title against Belfort at UFC 181 on Dec. 6, but had to pull out when he received a new diagnosis on a lingering hand injury.
Weidman, from Baldwin, first injured his hand a few weeks prior to defending his title against Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 on July 5. He originally was diagnosed with sprained ligaments, which later was discovered to be a fracture.
Weidman and Rousey have shared space on the fight posters for each of their past two fights -- UFC 175 and UFC 168 last December.
Zingano (9-0) originally was scheduled to coach against Rousey on "The Ultimate Fighter" and then vie for her title last year, but she tore the ACL in her right knee in training and had to undergo surgery. Zingano returned at UFC 178 last September -- more than 17 months after her last fight -- and beat Amanda Nunes by third-round knockout.
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
