Leben vs. Vemola, Belcher vs. Okami Added To December's UFC 155

A pair of middleweight tilts were announced this week as Chris Leben (22-8) returns to action against Karlos Vemola (9-3) and Alan Belcher (18-6) rematches Yushin Okami (27-7) at December's UFC 155.

UFC 155 takes place on December 29 in Las Vegas and is expected to be headlined by a heavyweight title rematch between reigning champ Junior dos Santos and ex-titleholder Cain Velasquez. Additional bouts include Chael Sonnen vs. Forrest Griffin, Chris Weidman vs. Tim Boetsch and Gray Maynard vs. Joe Lauzon.

Leben will return to the Octagon for the first time since last November after testing positive for painkillers following a technical knockout loss to Mark Munoz. While the fight took place in England where government drug testing isn't required for fighters, the Ultimate Fighting Championship tested the athletes independently and subsequently handed Leben a one-year fine for the infraction. Prior to the loss to Munoz, the heavy-handed striker knocked out Wanderlei Silva in just 32-seconds last summer.

A former heavyweight, Vemola makes his third appearance at 185-pounds after going 1-1 at the new weight. In his division debut last May, the Czech striker scored a submission win over Mike Massenzio, though suffered the same fate at the hands of Francis Carmont just two months later.

Belcher and Okami first locked horns at 2006's UFC 62 in a bout that saw the latter walk away with the unanimous decision win. 

Belcher was originally scheduled to take on Vitor Belfort at next month's UFC 153, though Belfort was yanked from the match and will take on Jon Jones at UFC 152 next weekend. "The Talent" is currently riding a four-fight win streak — all by way of stoppage — including a recent technical knockout of Rousimar Palhares on FOX.

Okami recently got back on the winning track after scoring a TKO victory over Buddy Roberts at UFC 150 last month. The victory snapped a two-fight losing skid for the former middleweight title contender.

(Pictured: Chris Leben)