Daniel Cormier Will Defend UFC Title At UFC 230, Female Title Fight Moved To New UFC PPV

- UFC dual-division champion Daniel Cormier will fight again this year, and defend his heavyweight title, just not against Brock Lesnar. For Cormier to reach a potential 2019 showdown with Lesnar, he'll have to get through Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 next month.

The bout, which was never discussed until after Lewis finished Alexander Volkov this past weekend at UFC 229, will move into the headline role on November 3 from Madison Square Garden in New York City. Previously, it was reported that the UFC wanted to book Cormier vs. Jon Jones or Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson for the card, but those plans fell through.

Instead, the red-hot Lewis will capitalize on the opening, as he becomes the first challenger to Cormier's reign atop the heavyweight division. He is also the current UFC light heavyweight champion.

UFC 230 now includes Cormier vs. Lewis, Luke Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. David Branch.

- The previously reported UFC 230 main event between Valentina Shevchenko vs. Sijara Eubanks for the vacant UFC female flyweight title is now off and will be returned to the first scheduled matchup between Shevchenko and Joanna Jedrzejczyk is back on for UFC 231.

The two will be part of the card on December 8 from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The UFC was hit by fans criticizing the decision to book Shevchenko and Eubanks immediately after the fight was reported.

UFC 231 features Max Holloway defending his featherweight title against Brian Ortega. Both fights were first reported by ESPN.