Quarterly Rankings
Former two-time UFC lightweight title challenger Kenny Florian (13-5) will make his much talked about featherweight debut against streaking contender Diego Nunes (16-1) at UFC 131 in June.
News of the bout was first reported by ESPN's MMA Live, who broke the news on their official Twitter account.
Florian's drop all the way to the 145-pound featherweight division is a long way down from where he started his UFC career, as he made his Octagon debut as a middleweight in the finale of the original Ultimate Fighter, where he lost to Diego Sanchez at the April 2005 event.
Following the loss to Sanchez, Florian had a short two-fight stint at welterweight, where he defeated Alex Karalexis and Kit Cope. He then made the move down to the lightweight division, where he put together a 9-3 record, earning two title shots along the way though he suffered losses in those championship bouts to Sean Sherk and B.J. Penn.
Florian's move to the featherweight divison was prompted by his most recent loss, which came against current lightweight title challenger Gray Maynard at UFC 118 in August. He previously was on the cusp of a third lightweight title shot with back-to-back wins over Clay Guida and Takanori Gomi.
Nunes is currently on a three-fight winning streak, defeating Raphael Assuncao, Tyler Toner and most recently scoring a close yet impressive split decision win over former WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown at UFC 125 in January. Prior to the wins, he suffered his only career loss to L.C. Davis at WEC 44 in Nov. 2009.
Nunes put together a 4-1 record with the now-defunct WEC organization, scoring other wins over Cole Province and Rafael Dias.
UFC 131 will likely take place on June 11 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The event is expected to be headlined by a heavyweight bout between TUF 13 coaches Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos.
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