UFC officials announced today that they have acquired the services of Lavar Johnson from the Strikeforce heavyweight roster and as such will put him in his UFC debut against Joey Beltran in Chicago.

UFC on FOX 2 is set to go down from Chicago’s United Center on January 28 live on FOX TV.

In the main event, Phil Davis will square off with Rashad Evans for the number one contender seat in the UFC’s light-heavyweight division ruled over by Jon Jones. The co-feature of the evening is a middleweight number one contender bout between Mark Munoz and Chael Sonnen. Also featured on the card is a middleweight bout with serious title implications between Michael Bisping and Damian Maia.

As we reported here on BJPENN.COM, ZUFFA and SHOWTIME recently announced that they will halt all promotion of the Strikeforce heavyweight division once the HW grand prix finals has culminated.

Lavar Johnson has a reputation for being one of the toughest men in MMA. The survivor of multiple gunshot wounds during a driveby shooting, he is a five-fight Strikeforce veteran with another six-fights earlier in his career in the WEC.

After closing out his Strikeforce career with a 3-2 record he now gets his chance on the big stage against Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran on January 28.

Beltran is a known brawler and was last seen doing just that on the UFC 136 card against UFC newcomer Stipe Miocic. After obtaining success in his first two UFC outings, the San Diego native has had recent struggles against the UFC’s new influx of heavyweight fighter. He has dropped three of his last four bouts, including a loss to the aforementioned Miocic, making this newly announced fight a must win for “The Mexicutioner”.

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