A lightweight showdown between Matt Grice (9-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and "The Ultimate Fighter 6" veteran George Sotiropoulos (9-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is the latest proposed fight for "UFC Fight Night 17: Lauzon vs. Franca."

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today learned of the expected bout from a source close to Grice.

Bout agreements have been distributed and should be finalized shortly.

Grice will be returning to action for the first time since his October 2007 "Fight of the Night" with Jason Black at UFC 77. Grice put his MMA career on hold for the past year in order to complete training at the Oklahoma City Police Department academy. With that training behind him, the 27-year-old will now renew his commitment to the UFC.

Grice's manager, Scott Newell, recently told MMAjunkie.com he expected his client to take a tune-up fight in a smaller organization before returning to the UFC. However, with this announcement that potential seems unlikely.

Sotiropoulos will also be returning from an extended layoff. The Australian native last fought in the UFC at UFC Fight Night 13 in April. The 31-year-old earned a TKO win over Roman Mitichyan that night, but an injury has kept him out of action since.

Sotiropoulos remained with his coach from "The Ultimate Fighter," Matt Serra, for his continued training. Sotiropoulos will carry a three-fight win streak into the bout.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship recently revealed a four-fight televised main card for UFC Fight Night 17, which takes place Feb. 7 at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla.

The event, headlined by lightweights Joe Lauzon (17-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC) and Hermes Franca (19-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC), airs live on Spike TV.

Also on the main card are top heavyweight contender Cain Velasquez and "The Ultimate Fighter" winners Mac Danzig (season six) and Amir Sadollah (season seven).

Velasquez (4-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC), one of the UFC's top heavyweight prospects, meets UFC newcomer Denis Stojnic (5-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), a Bosnia and Herzegovina-based fighter who has posted decision wins in four of his five career victories.

Danzig (18-5-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC), who looks to rebound from a recent unanimous decision to Clay Guida, meets Josh Neer (24-7-1 MMA, 3-4 UFC), who will fight despite a recent New Year's Day arrest after leading police on a high-speed chase.

Sadollah (1-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), meanwhile, takes on Catone (5-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), a UFC newcomer he was first scheduled to fight in November at UFC 91. However, Sadollah was forced off the card with a leg infection just four days prior to the bout, and the fight was rescheduled for UFC Fight Night 17.
http://mmajunkie.com/news/13656/ufc-fight-night-17-main-card-revealed.mma