They've been campaigning to fight one another for months and now we have a date for Michael Bisping vs. Tim Kennedy. The pair of middleweights will serve as the main event at The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia Finale Apr. 16 at Colisée Pepsi in Quebec City, Quebec. That's the plan as long as Bisping earns his physician's clearance through a sound peripheral eye test. Kennedy confirmed the news via Twitter Sunday afternoon:

I would rather be a yank than a wank. @bisping is going to have a rough night at the #TUFNations finale! — Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) January 19, 2014

Sidelined with his on-going retina injuries, Bisping last competed on Apr. 27, 2013 against Alan Belcher, scoring a technical decision victory after Belcher suffered an accidental eye poke. Prior to that, Bisping became the first stop on the Vitor Belfort headkick KO tour at UFC on FX 7 last January.

Kennedy returns off an impressive 'knockout of the night' performance against Rafael Natal at UFC: Fight for the Troops 3 on Nov. 6. The U.S. Army Green Beret is 2-0 since making his promotional debut at UFC 162 against Roger Gracie back in July 2013.

Assumedly serving as the co-main event will be the Ultimate Fighter: Nations coaches bout between Quebecer Patrick Côté and Aussie Kyle Noke.

5 MUST-READ STORIES

Jones-Teixeira. Glover Teixeira is expecting a much improved Jon Jones at UFC 172. "He's a super champion and will be back stronger after he studies his own weaknesses. I can't focus on that."

Broken. Luke Thomas diagnoses Bellator's ailing tournament format in search of alternative and compromises. "The path forward is one that makes use of the tournament, but offers Bellator enough matchmaking leeway to not have to fight itself or identity to get the job done."

Helping hand. Joe Warren says he's been asked by Ronda Rousey to help prepare her to face Sara McMann.

One to watch. Quinton Jackson and Tyrone Spong had an outstanding exchange on Twitter this weekend.

'I'd like to beat the s**t out of him.' Joe Riggs calls Nick Diaz a 'mongoloid' and wants to fight him in a boxing match.

MEDIA STEW

Nick the Face's unofficial promo for UFC 171.

Anthony Johnson KO's Mike Kyle.

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Fedor Emelianenko carries the Olympic torch.

UFC Fight Night 35 Phantom cam.

Highlights from MFC 39.

WHOA TV's 2013 MMA awards.

Top 10 most impressive streaks in MMA history.

Long watches.

UFC on FOX 10: Road to the Octagon

MMA 3 Way: GSP vs the UFC, Rich Franklin can't retire and more

TWEETS

WSOF action.

"@Justin_Gaethje: @NotoriousNewell said don't scratch my belt pic.twitter.com/XHKsnVUCwk" I know you are going to take good care of it for me :) — Nick Newell (@NotoriousNewell) January 19, 2014

Thank you all for the good luck and congrats on my win last night. It felt good to finally get it over with. I'm... http://t.co/M9v1sHvgog — Anthony Johnson (@Anthony_Rumble) January 19, 2014

I went three rounds on my feet against a guy with ko power who ko'd Eduardo fuckin Dantes and won! Are you not entertained?!?! — Cody Bollinger (@CodyBollinger) January 19, 2014

Cuttin' down.

Let the fun begin! pic.twitter.com/7OYT90YZoF — Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) January 19, 2014

Soon.

Soon the world will see why I left the #UFightCheap and join Viacom,Spike tv,TNA and Bellator. Say what u want,haters will b blocked.1love — Quinton Jackson (@Rampage4real) January 18, 2014

A lot of these replies weren't kind to Kim, either.

It's official ... Kim Winslow is the worst ref in mma. Watching a WFC in Reno and she sucks even outside the UFC. — Ian McCall (@Unclecreepymma) January 18, 2014

From here to Newark.

Wrapping up Thailand.. It's been a pleasure being here! But now we've got a job to do :-) pic.twitter.com/2p49JwOE3F — Alistair Overeem (@Alistairovereem) January 20, 2014

He did take a fight on pretty short notice, though.

I hear Varner is a real douche to his fans... #TeamKilla don't play that!!! WE STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM NOW WE HEAR!!! Ima handle that!!! — Abel Trujillo (@AbelTrujillo1) January 20, 2014

Good thing Monday is leg day.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announced this weekend (Jan. 17-19 2014)

Daniel Pineda vs. Robert Whiteford at UFC 171

Michael Bisping vs. Tim Kennedy at TUF Nations Finale





FANPOST OF THE DAY

Today's Fanpost of the Day comes via Michael Shulski.

Corporate Personhood of the UFC and its Treatment of Fighters.

Recent posts in the MMA media have focused on the conflict between GSP and the UFC. This is a debate with nearly endless questions. Some of these questions even go so far as to question GSP's sanity. What's lost in recent discussion is how many other fighters have left the UFC on bad terms. A corporation is a legal entity that theoretically and legally has the same rights as individuals. Corporate Personhood is a legal concept that defines the rights of corporations as human beings. The Supreme Court even recently ruled that money is free-speech and corporations should, therefore, be legally permitted to contribute as much money to political campaigns as they see fit. Perhaps the UFC just needs to purchase a Senator or other politician from New York to get MMA sanctioned there. There are two theoretical ways to break down the character of the UFC. The first focuses on individuals such as the fighters, Dana White, the Fertitta brothers and Joe Silva to name a few. The second focuses on how the UFC, as a corporation, treats its employees. Analyzing the UFC as a legal institution focuses on things like contracts, scrum and branding among other factors. For purposes of brevity, I will outline the issues former fighters have had with the UFC.

Check out the rest of the post here.

Found something you'd like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me up on Twitter @SaintMMA and we'll include it in tomorrow's column.