UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey announced a major fight this afternoon that will have huge stakes in the middleweight division. In the UFC’s final event of the year on December 20th in Brazil, Lyoto Machida will return to the Octagon as he takes on rising contender C.B. Dollaway.
Ronda announced the fight via the UFC Brazil Twitter:
.@RondaRousey confirma: @lyotomachidafw encara @cbdollaway no #UFCBarueri (20/12). Leia mais http://t.co/SDki85nTvH https://t.co/F27IELImw8
— UFC Brasil (@ufc_brasil) September 17, 2014
This will be Machida’s first fight back since losing to UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman at UFC 175 earlier this year. If he plans on fighting for the title in 2015, he will need to dispatch of Dollaway in December.
Dollaway has won his last two in a row, but in reality he could very well be on a five fight winning streak. At UFC 166 while on a two fight winning streak, Dollaway lost a very questionable split decision to Tim Boetsch.
The loss did not hurt Dollaway too much as he went on to win his next two fights and now has the biggest chance of his career in the fight with Lyoto Machida. If Dollaway bests Machida, he could be the next in line for a UFC title shot.
