The UFC gets busy making matches

Get out your scorecards, time for another round of match-up updates.

As expected, Frankie Edgar will be the next to challenge lightweight champ BJ Penn at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. Penn confirmed his opponent on his website. And Vitor Belfort’s manager has confirmed Belfort’s fight with middleweight champ Anderson Silva on the same April card. Meanwhile, middleweight Kendall Grove could face “Filipino Wrecking Machine” Mark Munoz.

Patrick Cote announced his long-awaited octagon return on Facebook yesterday. He’ll face Alan Belcher in front of a hometown crowd at Montreal’s UFC 113 on May 1. Cote has been on the DL since he blew out his knee during his October 2008 loss to middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Also on the card, the rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, a possible collision between Ultimate Fighter adversaries Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and Cote compatriot Jonathan Goulet against Marcus Davis.

The first-ever UFC on Versus event set for March 21 is shaping up. Brandon Vera vs. Jon Jones will headline the first of two UFC events to air on Versus in 2010 as part of a deal between the cable station and the UFC’s sister promotion, WEC. And the co-headliner will see Junior dos Santos face Gabriel Gonzaga, a bout originally slated for UFC 108 until Gonzaga came down with a staph infection and dos Santos went on to turn Gilbert Yvel’s lights out. Others filling in the blanks include Anthony Johnson vs. John Howard, Spencer Fisher vs. Duane Ludwig, Chase Gormley vs. Brendan Schaub and Eliot Marshall vs. Vladimir Matyushenko.

UFC 111 is rumoured to be adding Martin Kampmann vs. Ben Saunders and Kurt Pellegrino vs. Fabricio “Marango” Camoes to the March 27 New Jersey card co-headlined by Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy and Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir.

And Kenny Florian says he still hasn’t heard anything about a rumoured fight with Japanese import Takanori Gomi. Sometimes, though, the fighters are the last to know.