A top heavyweight contender—and an intriguing future addition to the UFC’s light heavyweight division—has signed a new contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will keep him with the world’s largest fight promotion for the foreseeable future.
Daniel Cormier (13-0, 2-0 UFC) has signed a new eight-fight deal with the promotion.
Cormier became a free agent after beating Roy Nelson at UFC 166 in October, though Cormier told Bleacher Report at the time that he had no intentions of discussing a contract with any other fight promotion and that it would merely be a matter of time before he signed a new deal.
He confirmed the news with UFC Tonight‘s Ariel Helwani on Wednesday night.
Cormier also disputed the recent rumors surrounding a March fight with former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans, which could take place at UFC 171.
That event, which takes place on March 15 in Dallas, is headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira. Jones and Cormier have engaged in a war of words for nearly a year and Cormier is considered a potential threat to Jones’ history-making title reign.
Cormier told Helwani that he wanted to fight sooner than March, which means we could see the undefeated heavyweight make his light heavyweight debut in late February.
Few other opponents in the division make sense. Cormier deserves a top-ranked light heavyweight, and of the top five fighters in the division, only Phil Davis (No. 4) is currently active and without a fight scheduled.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com