UFC president Dana White today confirmed that former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort sometime this spring and the winner is expected to earn a title shot. Belfort is coming off an incredible head kick KO win over Michael Bisping at UFC on FX 7, while Rockhold last defended the Strikeforce title this past July against Tim Kennedy. These are two of the finest middleweights in the world and according to the MMA Fighter Rankings are both top 10 in the division, making this a marquee matchup between two of the best in the world. Barao-McDonald Winner To Unify Belt With Cruz White also said that the winner of this Saturday’s main event between UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao and challenger Michael McDonald at UFC on FUEL TV 7 won’t defend the interim belt, and will instead fight UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz when he returns from injury. According to White, the UFC hopes to have Cruz — who hasn’t fought since October 2011 due to an ACL tear — back this summer and he’ll be thrown right into the fire against the winner of Barao vs. McDonald. MMA Close To Being Legalized in NY? Reports emerged today that mixed martial arts is one step closer to becoming legalized in the state of New York as judges in the case is pushing for a settlement between Zuffa and New York State according to journalist Jim Genia. This is good news as the UFC has long wanted to return to New York, which banned the sport of MMA years ago when it was considered “human cockfighting.” Hopefully cooler heads prevail and this situation can be sorted out so the UFC can put on a major event at Madison Square Garden this winter like they hope to. Rumor has it the UFC wants the main event to be Jon Jones vs. Anderson Silva.
