Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano Moved To UFC 184 Co-Main Event

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The previously scheduled UFC 182 co-main event between women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano has been moved to February 28’s UFC 184 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

UFC President Dana White announced the change on Instagram today:

With middleweight champion Chris Weidman set to battle Vitor Belfort in UFC 184’s headliner, Rousey vs. Zingano will still go down in the co-main event slot, marking the second time that Rousey had fought in the lead-in bout to a Weidman title defense.

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“Rowdy” was last seen demolishing Alexis Davis with a 16-second knockout at July 5’s UFC 175 from Las Vegas directly before Weidman outlasted Lyoto Machida in the feature bout. The dominant champion has been on the sidelines dealing with knee surgery and a broken thumb.

Zingano recently returned to the octagon after a trying year-and-a-half of complications surrounding surgery for a torn ACL and some tragic personal events. She originally earned the right to face Rousey at the end of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 18 by defeating Miesha Tate at the TUF 17 Finale in April 2013, but was unable to fight again until she scored a huge-come-from-behind victory over Amanda Nunes at September’s UFC 178.

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UFC 182, which is set to take place on January 3, 2015, from Las Vegas’s MGM Grand Arena, features the long-awaited Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier light heavyweight title bout.

With the announcement that Rousey vs. Zingano has been switched to UFC 184, the anticipated lightweight bout between Donald Cerrone and Myles Jury, which was confirmed as the UFC Fight Night 59 co-main event earlier today, has now been switched to UFC 182’ co-main event.

Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea for USA TODAY Sports

Outer Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie for USA TODAY Sports