A important middleweight bout between contenders Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen is now expected to take place at UFC 109 on Feb. 6 in Las Vegas, not the originally rumored UFC 110 event on Feb. 21 in Australia. News of the UFC 109 booking was first reported by MMAWeekly.com.

As reported here earlier this month, a report came from Sportsnet.ca first reporting the Sonnen vs. Marquardt match up for UFC 110. However, sources indicate that the reason for the bout changing from UFC 110 to UFC 109 were due to the date and location not working out.

Marquardt was originally slated to face Dan Henderson at UFC 108 in January to determine the middleweight division's top contender, however, those plans were put on an indefinite hold after Henderson and the UFC failed to come to terms on a new contract.

Marquardt (29-8-2) is currently riding a three-fight winning streak, putting together stoppage wins over Martin Kampmann, Wilson Gouveia and most recently scoring a 21-second knockout win over Demian Maia at UFC 102 in August.

Marquardt holds an 8-2 UFC record, scoring other notable Octagon wins over Dean Lister, Joe Doerksen and Ivan Salaverry, while suffering his only UFC losses against Thales Leites and Anderson Silva.

Following a stint with the other Zuffa owned promotion, the WEC,  Sonnen (24-10-1) re-joined the UFC in February at UFC 95, where he was defeated by Demian Maia. He has since posted back-to-back unanimous decision wins over Dan Miller and his most recent win coming against Yushin Okami at UFC 104 last month.

Following the win over Okami, Sonnen voiced his interest in stepping in for his Team Quest teammate, Dan Henderson, to face Marquardt if Henderson didn't re-sign with the UFC. He has put together a 3-3 record in six fights with the UFC, scoring his only other Octagon win over Trevor Prangley.

The as-of-yet unannounced UFC 109 is rumored to be headlined by a UFC middleweight title fight between current champ Anderson Silva and challenger, Vitor Belfort. In addition, former UFC champions Randy Couture and Mark Coleman will square off in a light-heavyweight tilt.

Make sure to check back with us the day of the event for free, live, round-by-round coverage of UFC 109 right here at FiveKnuckles.com! Join expert analyst Mike Williams as he takes you through the entire fight card blow-by-blow and then keep it right here for all the post-fight news and notes you can handle!