This weekend was supposed to feature Stipe Miocic against Ben Rothwell in the UFC Fight Night: Duffy vs. Poirier co-main event. However, Miocic pulled out with an injury which was described as "not serious, just bad timing", and Rothwell was also removed from the card. While Rothwell is a stand-by in case the Junior dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem bout falls apart, Miocic has been booked for the co-main event of UFC 195 in Las Vegas against Andrei Arlovski. LA Times' Lance Pugmire first reported the fight announcement, which UFC officials later confirmed.
Miocic (13-2) is ranked #3 in the UFC's heavyweight division, with his last performance ending in a 5th round TKO of Mark Hunt in Adelaide back in May. Prior to that, the Ohio native engaged in an entertaining fight with former champion Junior dos Santos, but ended up losing by unanimous decision. Arlovski (25-10, 1 NC) is ranked #4, right behind Stipe, and has won his last 6 fights. His stunning career turnaround includes knockout wins over Antonio Silva and Travis Browne, and most recently an ugly unanimous decision win over Frank Mir at UFC 191, a performance which Arlovski himself was not pleased with.
UFC 195 is headlined by a welterweight title fight between reigning champion Robbie Lawler and former interim champion Carlos Condit. So in case you need a reminder, it'll be January 2nd, 2016 when this card happens, and Robbie Lawler and Andrei Arlovski are the feature fighters on a major UFC pay-per-view. Just as we all predicted.