Dustin Poirier Vs. Erik Koch At UFC 143

Following his second round submission victory over Pablo Garza at UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos this weekend, 22-year-old Dustin Poirier told MMAFighting's Ariel Helwani that a match-up with fellow rising featherweight prospect Erik Koch would be ideal for his next outing; today, the UFC announced that the pair will do battle at UFC 143 early next year.

A lightweight carryover from the WEC, Poirier made his UFC and featherweight debuts simultaneously, upsetting then-number one contender Josh Grispi by taking a unanimous decision victory. He's gone undefeated in two Octagon battles since, defeating Jason Young by unanimous decision in June and tapping out Garza last weekend. Sporting a record of 11-1, the young Louisianan has set himself up to be a future contender at 145lbs.

Training with the renowned Roufusport fight team out of Milwaukee, 23-year-old Erik Koch also transferred from the WEC to go undefeated in the UFC. In his two Octagon appearances, Koch defeated Raphael Assuncao and Jonathan Brookins, earning Knockout of the Night in his debut appearance against Assuncao. Koch is 13-1 overall, his only loss a decision to current number one contender Chad Mendes.

UFC 143 goes down on February 4, 2012 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mark Wayne is the head writer for FightLine.com. He can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/_MarkWayne.