The UFC’s welterweight division has picked up a fight between two top ten combatants, as the UFC has announced that Jake Ellenberger and Josh Koscheck will face each other in the co-main event of UFC 151.
The fight, which will take place on September 1 in Las Vegas, puts most of the top ranked welterweight fighters in play over the next few months.
Also tentatively scheduled to compete before the end of the year are Georges St-Pierre, Carlos Condit, Martin Kampmann and Johny Hendricks. St-Pierre and Condit will face off to determine who is the one true owner of the UFC welterweight crown, while Kampmann and Hendricks will compete to thin the herd at the top of the division. Those two fights are penciled in for UFC 154, which is scheduled for November 17 in Montreal, Quebec.
Also in the welterweight mix, Rory MacDonald will face BJ Penn at UFC 152 in September.
Ellenberger and Koscheck are both coming off losses in their last bouts.
Ellenberger (27-6) was on a six-fight UFC winning streak and hearing whispers about a possible title shot when he ran into Martin Kampmann during the TUF 15 final fight card. Kampmann took that fight by second round knockout. Fighters that Ellenberger defeated during his winning streak included Diego Sanchez and Jake Shields.
As for Koscheck (17-6), he saw a two-fight winning streak come to an end on the UFC on FOX 3 card when Johny Hendricks took a split decision victory over the always-game Koscheck. Before the loss to Hendricks, Koscheck had defeated Matt Hughes and Mike Pierce.
UFC 151 will be headlined by a light heavyweight title bout as champion Jon Jones puts his belt on the line against former Pride and Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson.
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