Daniel Cormier has signed up to fight Ryan Bader at UFC Fight Night 68 in New Orleans on June 6th.
Cormier is coming off the biggest fight of his career against his bitter rival Jon Jones at UFC 182 last month which he lost by unanimous decision. That was the first time DC’ had tasted defeat in his 16 fight career competing at both light-heavyweight and heavyweight.
Afterwards he was quickly linked to a fight with another of the division’s leading contenders Alexander Gustafsson, but the UFC has instead opted to let that particularly match-up simmer on the backburner for now with the potential for it to take place if both men win their next fights.
Bader is currently enjoying one of the best spells of his career, producing a four fight winning streak in the Octagon that includes victories over the likes of Rafael ‘Feijao’, Ovince St. Preux and most recently Phil Davis.
That’s raised him to the No.5 spot in the light-heavyweight rankings and while he’ll almost certainly head into this new fight as a significant underdog, if he can produce an upset victory that would put him tantalizingly close to title contention over six years after he fought his way to a spot in the UFC by winning The Ultimate Fighter Season 8.
