The UFC’s brass obviously has no plans of easing former Bellator MMA champ Eddie Alvarez into the mix in its stacked lightweight division.
Roughly a month after watching him drop his promotional debut in a barn-burner against Donald Cerrone, the UFC announced that Alvarez will face former UFC lightweight kingpin Benson Henderson in his next fight.
The 10th-ranked Alvarez will lock horns with the fifth-ranked Henderson in the co-main event at UFC Fight Night 59 in Boston on Jan. 18. The night’s main event will feature a scrap between fifth-ranked featherweight Conor McGregor and the eighth-ranked Dennis Siver.
The Alvarez/Henderson fight replaces the originally scheduled co-main event bout between the fourth-ranked Cerrone and the eighth-ranked Myles Jury. The Cerrone/Jury bout will instead take place at UFC 182 on Jan. 3.
Alvarez and Henderson, who are each 30 years old, are both looking to rebound from recent losses.
Alvarez (25-4) saw a three-fight winning streak snapped when he dropped his much-anticipated promotional debut in a unanimous-decision loss to Cerrone in the co-main event of UFC 178 on Sept. 27.
The third-ranked Rafael dos Anjos handed Henderson his third loss under the Zuffa banner by KO’ing him in the main event of UFC Fight Night 49 on Aug. 23.
Alvarez became the Bellator MMA lightweight champ by avenging his lone loss with the promotion with a controversial split-decision win over Michael Chandler at Bellator 106 in November 2013.
Henderson, the former WEC lightweight champ, won the lightweight title with a narrow unanimous-decision win over Frankie Edgar at UFC 144 in February 2012.
Henderson defended his UFC belt three times before getting submitted (armbar) by Anthony Pettis at UFC 164 in August 2013.
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