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UFC 161: Antonio Nogueira Injured, Fight vs. Shogun Rua Officially Canceled

Update: According to MMA Junkie’s John Morgan and MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, the UFC has confirmed that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Mauricio Rua is canceled.Currently, the promotion is looking a replacement before pulling “Shogun” of…

Update: According to MMA Junkie’s John Morgan and MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, the UFC has confirmed that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Mauricio Rua is canceled.

Currently, the promotion is looking a replacement before pulling “Shogun” off the card.

Another UFC event, another injury.

It appears that the much-anticipated UFC 161 fight between Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Shogun Rua is in jeopardy, with reports claiming that “Little Nog” has an injured back.

Bloody Elbow relays the latest news, straight from Globo:

On his 37th birthday, the light-heavyweight Brazilian Rogerio Nogueira had to deal with an unpleasant situation: he will be forced to give up his rematch against Mauricio Rua at UFC 161 on June 15 in Winnipeg, Canada. A back problem again bothered the fighter.

Nogueira had been preparing well for the fight, but felt back pain because of a herniated disc in training last Monday. The problem is not serious, but it was enough to get him out of the fight, due to the proximity of it.

Naturally, the injury is extremely poor timing, but if it does in fact keep Nogueira from competing on June 15 on the Canada-bound card, there’s replacements available.

In fact, over a dozen fighters could get the call.

Should the UFC desire someone coming off a win, some likely names could include Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, Wanderlei Silva, Matt Hamill or Jimi Manuwa.

Lyoto Machida and Alexander Gustafsson are also awaiting Octagon returns, but both of them are on the short list of current contenders to Jon Jones’ UFC title.

This would also be Nogueira’s third injury since August 2011.

Previously, the Brazilian had actually been set up for bouts against former champion Rich Franklin (at UFC 133) and Gustafsson (at UFC on Fuel TV 2), but both a shoulder injury and a late knee injury derailed both matchups, respectively.

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McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

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UFC 161 Video Preview: Rashad Evans vs. Sean Salmon Full Fight Video

Have you ever purchased tickets to an event and read the fine print on the back of those tickets? Somewhere on the ticket there will usually be a note informing you that the lineup of the event is subject to change without notice. The UFC has inv…

UFC 161 was originally scheduled to feature a main event between interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland, but an injury to Barao scuppered that fight. With that, the co-main event bout between Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson was elevated to main event status.

Evans and Henderson have become staples in main events over the years, but that wasn’t always the case. Like most fighters, they worked their way up to headlining fight cards. For Evans, the first time he fought in a main event was UFC Fight Night 8 in January 2007.

Evans entered the event unbeaten, carrying a 9-0 professional record and a 4-0 record with the UFC. His opponent that night was Sean Salmon, a 9-1 fighter who was making his UFC debut.

As main event debuts go, things could not have gone any better for Evans or worse for Salmon. The fight ended with Evans delivering one of the more spectacular head-kick knockouts, leaving cageside commentator Joe Rogan shouting, “His toes are curled up! His toes are still curled up right now, right in front of us!”

Evans took home “Knockout of the Night” honors for his effort while Salmon took home, I’m assuming, one of the bigger headaches of his life.

UFC 161 will take place on June 15 from the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

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UFC 161: 5 Reasons Why Roy Nelson May Get Cut Next, Win or Lose

Generally, fighters in the UFC aren’t supposed to look like Roy Nelson.Not in modern-day MMA, at least.Today, if fighters are competing in the UFC’s heaviest division, they usually don’t have beards resembling a coral reef or a profile that looks like …

Generally, fighters in the UFC aren’t supposed to look like Roy Nelson.

Not in modern-day MMA, at least.

Today, if fighters are competing in the UFC’s heaviest division, they usually don’t have beards resembling a coral reef or a profile that looks like “Santa Claus on a bender.” And they’re typically not lugging around huge, sagging beer bellies.

But despite it all, “Big Country” has survived in the world’s biggest fight promotion—on the strength of an iron chin, one-punch knockout power and an improbable run on The Ultimate Fighter.

And sadly, Nelson’s UFC run may come to an end after his next match.

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UFC 161 Video Preview: Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping Full Fight Video

One thing that has eluded Dan Henderson through his storied mixed martial arts career is a UFC title. If Henderson ever hopes to claim that prize, he’ll need to get past Rashad Evans at UFC 161. Henderson (29-9) had been booked to face Jones in t…

One thing that has eluded Dan Henderson through his storied mixed martial arts career is a UFC title. If Henderson ever hopes to claim that prize, he’ll need to get past Rashad Evans at UFC 161.

Henderson (29-9) had been booked to face Jones in the main event of the ill-fated UFC 151 fight card, but a knee injury knocked him out of the event. After Jones opted to not fight Chael Sonnen on short notice, the card was scrapped—a UFC first.

Through a career that began in 1997, Henderson has racked up 13 knockout victories while never being on the receiving end of a knockout loss. Some of those knockouts have been more memorable than others, but if you asked 100 MMA fans to name the top knockout of Henderson’s career, odds are that the majority would say it was Henderson’s UFC 100 knockout of Michael Bisping.

Henderson and Bisping had coached Season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter before UFC 100 and had developed a nice level of animosity. Most of the hatred was born from the relentless trash talk from Bisping, trash talk that Henderson vowed to end by shutting Bisping’s mouth with his fist.

We know now that Henderson was only partially able to accomplish that feat. When Bisping circled directly into the powerful right hand of Henderson, Bisping fell to his back out cold, only to be followed to the ground by the leaping Henderson who landed another strike to the supine Bisping.

The brutal knockout earned Henderson “Knockout of the Night” honors, but as we know, only temporarily stopped Bisping’s trash talk.

On June 15, Henderson will look to end Evans’ night in spectacular fashion. Anything less and the 42-year-old Henderson may never get the chance to claim UFC gold.

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UFC 161 Preview Video: Rashad Evans vs Dan Henderson

With 160 going into the history books as one of the most exciting pay-per-view in recent memory, the UFC has their work cut out for them if they hope to top it. On Wednesday, the UFC released the official video preview for their next PPV offering: UFC …

Top names from the light heavyweight division dominate the top of the card as Rashad Evans meets Dan Henderson in the main event and Shogun Rua rematches Antonio Nogueira shortly before.

Considering that each of the quartet of dangerous strikers has their fare share of knockouts inside the Octagon, you can imagine the sort of concussion-inducing highlights that this preview includes.

Suspiciously absent from the preview is any mention of a heavyweight collision between Roy Nelson and Stipe Miocic.

Nelson was added to the UFC 161 card on short notice after the original main event between Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland was called off. With the late loss of a title fight, the event needed the sort of supplemental star power that “Big Country” could provide.

In fact, Nelson’s appearance was deemed necessary enough that a fight between Miocic and Soa Palelei was scrapped in order to give the Ultimate Fighter winner an opponent.

Also on the main card is a women’s bantamweight matchup between Alexis Davis and Rosi Sexton, as well as a heavyweight scrap between Pat Barry and Shawn Jordan. The latter duo are both coming off of riveting knockout victories.

UFC 161 takes place on Saturday, June 15 at the MTS Center in Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada.

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Power Ranking the Best MMA Fights That Will Take Place in June

With another turn of the calendar, a new month brings us more exciting fights in the world of MMA. From the UFC to the regionals of the sport, June promises to bring us some exciting and important fights.The UFC will put on two events with UFC on Fuel …

The UFC will put on two events with UFC on Fuel TV 10 and UFC 161, both on foreign soil (Brazil and Canada, respectively). Bellator returns with the first installment of their summer series, and other smaller promotions such as KSW and World Series of Fighting return to television screens worldwide.

Here are the ten best fights you will see this month.

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