With former UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar withdrawing from his UFC 131 bout with Junior dos Santos, UFC officials have shuffled all of the heavyweight bouts on the card.
The official announcement was made on UFC.com on Friday.
With yesterday’s announcement that Shane Carwin (12-1) will replace Brock Lesnar in the UFC 131 main event against Junior dos Santos (12-1), there have been some changes to the June 11th card in Vancouver.
Carwin’s original opponent on the card, Jon Olav Einemo (6-1), will now face fellow newcomer Dave “Pee Wee” Herman (20-2), and Herman’s original foe, Joey Beltran (12-5), will take on UFC debutant Aaron Rosa (16-3) in bouts verbally agreed to today.
UFC 131: Dos Santos vs. Carwin is scheduled to take place on June 11 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Carwin has been out for almost a year after a cancelled bout with Roy Nelson, which was then followed by neck surgery. He suffered his first career loss in his last Octagon appearance, losing to then champ, Lesnar, at UFC 116. Dos Santos has won seven in a row, including a unanimous decision over Nelson in his last fight at UFC 117. Both men will meet in a No. 1 contender bout to face Cain Velasquez later this fall.
“Pee Wee” Herman and Einemo will both make their UFC debuts against each other at the Vancouver event. Herman has won two straight, and is 5-1 in his last six fights. His last bout was on Dec. 30 at WVR’s Soul of Fight in Japan, earning a unanimous decision over Yoshihiro Nakao. Einamo hasn’t competed in MMA since November 2006, where he earned a submission win, the fifth of his career, at a local event in the Netherlands. His only loss was to Fabricio Werdum at the Pride 31 event.
“The Mexicutioner” Beltran may be facing a pink slip should he lose to Rosa having dropped his last two fights. His last fight was in January at the Fight for the Troops 2 event, losing a unanimous decision to Pat Barry. “Big Red” Rosa makes his UFC debut and enters the promotion on a four fight win streak, going 6-1 in his last seven fights. Rosa earned a victory over former TUF 10 alumni Abe Wagner last March, submitting Wagner in the second round of their Titan FC 17 event.