Welterweight contenders Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks are set to meet at UFC on FOX 3 on May 5, UFC president Dana White announced on his Twitter Sunday.
Koscheck (17-5) is a perennial contender at 170 pounds and is coming off a narrow decision win over Mike Pierce at UFC 143.
Hendricks (12-1) is coming off a surprise 12-second knockout of Koscheck’s teammate Jon Fitch at UFC 141 in December. The 28-year-old has notable wins over Pierce, Charlie Brenneman and Canadian T.J. Grant. His only career loss was to Rick Story at the TUF 12 finale in December 2010.
— White also announced a middleweight matchup between submission artist Rousimar Palhares and talented striker Alan (The Talent) Belcher would take place on the same Fox card.
Palhares (14-3) is coming off a 63-second heel hook submission win over Mike Massenzio at UFC 142. The Brazilian has won three fights in a row and six of his past seven. Of his 14 career wins, 10 have come by submission and seven of those have come by some form of leg lock.
Belcher’s last fight was against Jason MacDonald in September where he defeated the Canadian by first-round TKO. Belcher (17-6) has lost only once since 2008 and that loss was a controversial split decision to Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 100.
UFC on FOX 3 takes place at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J., and is headlined by a lightweight bout between Nate Diaz and Jim Miller.
UFC on FUEL TV 3 gets three more bouts
— TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah (5-3) looks to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to Duane Ludwig last August as he takes on Wanderlei Silva protégé Jorge Lopez.
Lopez (11-2) is coming off a loss in his UFC debut to Justin Edwards in September. The 23-year-old is regarded as one of the better prospects in the welterweight division.
— TUF 12 alumnus and guillotine choke expert Cody McKenzie is set to take on MMA veteran Aaron Riley.
McKenzie (12-2) has lost two consecutive fights to Vagner Rocha and Yves Edwards and will be fighting for his job. Riley (30-13-1) is also in need of a win as he has lost three of his last five. In his last outing, Riley had his jaw broken by TUF 13 winner Tony Ferguson and the bout was stopped by doctors after one round.
— A middleweight matchup between sluggers Brad Tavares and Dongi Yang has also been added to the card.
Tavares (7-1) is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Aaron Simpson at UFC 132, while Yang (10-2) is coming off a unanimous decision loss to TUF 11 winner Court McGee in September.
In other UFC news: Tiequan Zhang has a new opponent for UFC 144 because his original opponent Leonard Garcia was forced to withdraw due to injury. Instead, the “Mongolian Wolf” will fight Japan’s Issei Tamura.
Zhang (15-2) was defeated by Darren Elkins UFC 136 and has lost two of his last three bouts. All of Zhang’s 15 wins have been by stoppage. Tamura (6-2) is also coming off a decision loss and has dropped two of three.
UFC 144 takes place on Feb. 26 from the Saitama Super Arena in the promotion’s first trip to Japan under the Zuffa banner. The event is headlined by a UFC lightweight title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and No. 1 contender Ben Henderson.
