Former UFC interim heavyweight champ Shane Carwin (12-1) finally has an opponent for the UFC’s second trip to Vancouver, British Columbia in former ADCC submission champ Jon Olav Einemo (6-1).
The announcement was made official on Tuesday by UFC President Dana White at UFC.com.
“Submission wrestling champion Jon Olav Einemo has verbally agreed to make his UFC debut against former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin at UFC 131 in Vancouver,” said White. “Carwin is an incredibly tough UFC debut for anyone but Einemo’s camp loves the style matchup.”
UFC 131 has not been officially announced, but is expected to take place on June 11, 2011 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The event will be headlined by another heavyweight match between former champ Brock Lesnar and fellow “TUF 13″ coach Junior dos Santos.
By the time the bout rolls around, Carwin will have sat out almost a year after he withdrew from a scheduled match with Roy Nelson at UFC 125 because of back and neck pain. Carwin underwent successful back surgery in November and is now set to make his return. The former interim champ’s last fight was a loss to the former champ, at that time, Brock Lesnar at UFC 116. It was Carwin’s first loss after twelve straight first round wins.
Einemo hails from Norway, and is a 6-foot-6 jiu-jitsu black belt whose only loss was to Fabricio Werdum back in 2006 at a PRIDE event. Einemo hasn’t fought professionally since November of 2006, where he earned a tapped out another opponent, making it five out of six for wins by submission in his career. The Norwegian was also the winner of the 2003 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship tournament.