Gallery Photos: Best of Francis Ngannou view 19 images

Cain Velasquez’s return to the octagon is official. The former UFC heavyweight champ will meet Francis Ngannou in February’s UFC on ESPN 1 headliner.

Following reports of the matchup earlier this month, the UFC has confirmed Velasquez (14-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) will fight for the first time in more than two years when he takes on Ngannou (12-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) in a marquee heavyweight bout (via Twitter).

UFC on ESPN 1 takes place Feb. 17 at Talking Stick Resort & Casino in Phoenix. The card airs on ESPN following early prelims on ESPN+. Tickets for the event go on sale Jan. 4.

Ngannou, No. 6 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings, is coming off a crucial victory against Curtis Blaydes in he UFC Fight Night 141 main event in November. After going on a tear in the division to a title fight, Ngannou lost definitively to then-champ Stipe Miocic at UFC 220 in January. He followed that up with a forgettable effort against Derrick Lewis at UFC 226 in July.

With his stock at an all-time low, Ngannou, 32, needed just 45 seconds to tear through Blaydes for a first-round TKO to put himself back on track.

“The Predator” will attempt to play spoiler for the return of Velasquez, 36, who hasn’t fought since a first-round TKO of Travis Browne at UFC 200 in July 2016. The former two-time heavyweight champ has fought just twice in the past five years due to a plethora of injuries but apparently has been healthy for a while in hopes of making a return. Velasquez’s team hinted that contract negotiations had hit a stall with the UFC brass and that was preventing his comeback, but now it seems all those issues have been sorted, clearing the way for his return against Ngannou.

The latest UFC on ESPN 1 card now includes:

Francis Ngannou vs. Cain Velasquez

Jimmie Rivera vs. Aljamain Sterling

Ashlee Evans-Smith vs. Andrea Lee

Jodie Esquibel vs. Jessica Penne

Cynthia Calvillo vs. Cortney Casey

Paul Felder vs. James Vick

Alexandra Albu vs. Emily Whitmire

Manny Bermudez vs. Benito Lopez

Alex Caceres vs. Kron Gracie

Andre Fili vs. Myles Jury

Scott Holtzman vs. Nik Lentz

Renan Barao vs. Luke Sanders

Bryan Barberena vs. Vicente Luque

For more on UFC on ESPN 1, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.