• UFC 184

Weidman and Rousey to defend belts in February

Chris Weidman successfully defended his UFC middleweight title against Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 © Getty Images

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A UFC middleweight title bout between Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort has been made official for the UFC 184 pay-per-view on February 28 in Los Angeles.

UFC president Dana White announced the fight via social media on Wednesday. Additionally, White said a female bantamweight title fight between Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano has been shifted to the February 28 event, which will take place at Staples Center.

Rousey's attempt at a fifth title defence had previously been announced as the co-main event of a UFC 182 pay-per-view on January 3 in Las Vegas.

It is the third time the UFC has booked the Weidman-Belfort match-up. The two were supposed to meet in May, but Belfort, 37, was pulled from the card in February when the Nevada State Athletic Commission banned testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT), which he was on at the time.

In July, Belfort received a conditional licence from the NSAC to fight Weidman at UFC 181 on December 6 in Las Vegas, but Weidman was forced to postpone the bout after suffering a knee injury while training.

As part of the conditional license, Belfort (24-10) had agreed his next fight would take place in as Las Vegas. The NSAC has agreed, however, to allow the UFC to take the bout to California.

The Brazilian middleweight has not fought since a first-round knockout over Dan Henderson last November. Belfort will finish 2014 without a single appearance, after going 3-0 with three knockouts in 2013.

For Weidman (12-0), it will mark his third title defence. He won the 185-pound title in a knockout victory over Anderson Silva in July 2013. After a successful title defence in an immediate rematch in December, Weidman defended the belt a second time against Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 via unanimous decision.

Rousey (10-0) is coming off back-to-back first-round knockouts in 2014. Zingano (9-0) returned from a 17-month injury layoff in September, defeating Amanda Nunes via TKO in the third round.

The UFC returns to Los Angeles for the first time since August 2012. The promotion was forced to cancel an event there in August, when a main event between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes fell apart due to injury.

This article originally appeared on ESPN.com

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