In what could be a fight of the year candidate, Kenny Florian expects to face Evan Dunham on an already stacked UFC 127 card, which is scheduled to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Feb. 5, 2011. 

"Kenflo" announced on ESPN's MMA Live that he has verbally agreed to face "3-D" on Super Saturday.

After losing his title bout with BJ Penn back in August of last year, Florian bounced back with two submission victories over Takanori Gomi and Clay Guida. Florian was in a race for UFC gold once again before being stopped in his tracks by Gray Maynard back in August, which earned "The Bully" a unanimous decision victory and a shot at Frankie Edgar's lightweight title.

He's got to climb back to the top of the ladder once again. And a win over the very talented and surging Dunham would go along way toward achieving that goal for a third and possible final time.

Going into his bout with Sean Sherk, Dunham had a perfect (11-0) record, defeating the likes of Efrain Escudero and Tyson Griffin. Dunham lost his fight to "The Muscle Shark" by a controversial split decision. While Sherk controlled the first round with his wrestling and effective ground and pound which opened up a gash, many believed Dunham had bounced back in rounds two and three to earn the nod from the judges sitting ringside.

Didn't happen. But even in defeat, Dunham's stock continues to rise as he has emerged as a hot up-and-comer who could one day make a championship run himself. That journey will begin in early 2011 if he can somehow get past the contender killer from Boston, Massachusetts.

UFC 127 will feature a main event that showcases Anderson Silva, who will defend his middleweight title against Vitor Belfort. Former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin is expected to co-headline the pay-per-view (PPV) event when he scraps with former middleweight title holder Rich Franklin.

Also, two top prospects will go to war as undefeated TUF season 8 winner Ryan Bader meets light heavyweight sensation Jon Jones.

For more news on UFC 127, stick with MMAmania.com.