Alan Belcher recently pulled out of fighting at UFC 153 in Rio to allow a spinal fracture to heal, but it appears he won’t be out for long as he’s just been rescheduled for the promotion’s end of year UFC 155 event on December 29th.
Belcher, who’s on a four-fight winning streak at middleweight will take on Yushin Okami at the Las Vegas show in a fight that should feature on the main card.
The two men have actually fought before, with Belcher losing out to Okami by unanimous decision back in his first ever UFC fight in 2006.
Since then Belcher has produced an overall 9-4 record in the company, while Okami has gone 11-4.
Originally Belcher had been drawn to fight Vitor Belfort next at UFC 153, and a win there could have put him in a strong position to claim for a title shot, but it’s doubtful that his newly arranged bout with Okami would have quite the same effect given that the Japanese fighter has gone through a tough spell lately, losing two of his last three fights.
Also now announced for UFC 155 is Chris Leben’s return after serving a year’s suspension for failing a drugs test following his loss to Mark Munoz in November of last year.
Leben will now look to get back on track when he takes on karlos Vemola who’s gone 1-1 since dropping down to middleweight.
The UFC appear to be building a solid line-up for their final show of the year with a heavyweight title fight between Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez already installed as the main event with Chael Sonnen and Forrest Griffin serving as the co-main event.
