Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson II set for December’s UFC 206

Despite Dana White publicly pining for Jon Jones vs. Anthony Johnson to determine Daniel Cormier’s next title challenger, the UFC light heavyweight champion will instead rematch Johnson in what’s expected to be the main event of December’s UFC 206 in Toronto, Canada.

Cormier made the announcement on Wednesday’s UFC Tonight.

Cormier (18-1) will be looking for the second successful defense of the title he first won by defeating Johnson via third round submission at UFC 187 in May 2015. Since that night, he earned a October 2015 split decision over Alexander Gustafsson, and defeated Anderson Silva by unanimous decision at this past July’s UFC 200.

The Silva fight was a short notice affair as original opponent Jones was scrapped during fight week due to a positive drug test. Despite making rumblings that he could return sooner than later, Jones’ status is still in a period of statis as everyone awaits any new USADA findings and/or what the Nevada Athletic Commission has to say about the matter.

Since the DC loss, Johnson (22-5) has won three in a row by KO in putting Jimi Manuwa, Ryan Bader, and Glover Teixeira to sleep, the latter in just 13 seconds in August.

The Toronto show is set for Saturday, December 10th, and could also feature the return of MMA legend Georges St. Pierre as has been rumored for some time.

We’ll have more on this story on Wrestling Observer Radio later tonight.