Donald Cerrone vs. Nate Diaz official, granted co-main-event status for UFC 141

[rayallen0]

As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) first reported Sunday night, Donald Cerrone (17-3 MMA 4-0 UFC) and Nate Diaz (14-7 MMA, 9-5 UFC) will meet at December's UFC 141 event.

UFC brass today announced the contest and confirmed that the intriguing matchup will take the card's co-main-event slot.

Featuring a heavyweight matchup between former UFC champ Brock Lesnar and former Strikeforce titleholder Alistair Overeem, UFC 141 takes place Dec. 30 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Cerrone is fresh off a sweeping victory over top prospect Dennis Siver at this past weekend's UFC 137 event. After rocking the German on two occasions with head kicks, "Cowboy" cinched a rear-naked choke that brought the tapout at the midway point of round one. The victory, which earned him a $75,000 "Submission of the Night" bonus, was his sixth straight, all of which have come in the past 13 months.

Diaz, meanwhile, emerged from a two-fight skid in his most recent performance and picked up significant momentum with a first-round submission victory over Takanori Gomi at UFC 135. It was his first fight as a lightweight since he squared off with Gray Maynard at UFC Fight Night 23, after which he served a 2-2 stint as a welterweight.

The latest UFC 141 card now includes:

•Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem
•Donald Cerrone vs. Nate Diaz
•Jon Fitch vs. Johny Hendricks
•Alexander Gustafsson vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
•Dong Hyun Kim vs. Sean Pierson
•T.J. Grant vs. Jacob Volkmann