Robbie Lawler vs. Rafael dos Anjos set for UFC Winnipeg main event

Two former champions will face off at UFC Winnipeg.

On Thursday, the promotion officially announced that Robbie Lawler will fight Rafael dos Anjosin the main event of UFC on FOX 26 on Dec. 16 at the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

This will be Lawler’s second fight since losing the welterweight championship to Tyron Woodleylast year. “Ruthless” rebounded from that setback with a unanimous decision win over Donald Cerrone at UFC 214 this past July. In his second stint with the promotion, Lawler (28-11, 1 NC) is 9-2, including a pair of title defenses against Rory MacDonald and Carlos Condit.

Dos Anjos is undefeated in two contests at 170 pounds since making the move to the division in June. The 32-year-old Brazilian won the UFC lightweight championship from Anthony Pettistwo years ago and defended it once before dropping it to Eddie Alvarez. Dos Anjos defeated Tarec Saffiedine by unanimous decision in his welterweight debut, then followed that up with a first-round submission win over Neil Magny at UFC 215.

Several other bouts were confirmed for the Winnipeg show, including a welterweight matchup between Chad Laprise (12-2) and Galore Bofando (5-2), and a battle of lightweight strikers featuring John Makdessi (14-6) and Abel Trujillo (15-7, 1 NC).

See the official updated card below (bout order to be determined):

• Robbie Lawler vs. Rafael dos Anjos
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Jared Cannonier
• Tim Elliott vs. Justin Scoggins
• Chad Laprise vs. Galore Bofando
• John Makdessi vs. Abel Trujillo
• Nordine Taleb vs. Sultan Aliev
• Alessio Di Chirico vs. Oluwale Bamgbose
• Vitor Miranda vs. Julian Marquez