Rockhold (Photo credit: Esther Lin/Strikeforce)

By FCF Staff

Following last night’s UFC 167 card in Las Vegas, the promotion has announced two headliners for its early 2014 schedule. On January 25th, at UFC on FOX 10, former lightweight champ Benson Henderson will battle Josh Thomson, and at UFC Fight Night 35 on January 15th, Luke Rockhold will fight fellow middleweight contender Costa Philippou.

Henderson (19-3) will be competing for the first time since he lost the title to Anthony Pettis at UFC 164 via submission. Thomson (20-5), meanwhile, was scheduled to fight Pettis on December 14th, however the latter is sidelined due to a knee injury. Thomson is coming off a stoppage win over Nate Diaz in April.

UFC on FOX 10 will be hosted by Chicago’s United Center.

Philippou (12-3) will be looking to rebound from the unanimous decision loss he suffered versus Francis Carmont at UFC 165 in September.

The former Strikeforce champ Rockhold (10-2) hasn’t fought since he was stopped by Vitor Belfort at UFC on FX 8 in May.

UFC Fight Night 35 will go down at Duluth, Georgia’s Gwinnett Center.

Both of the confirmed main event fights will be five round bouts.