UFC 161: Evans vs. Henderson - Fight Card Updates

[keithlewis]

UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao has been injured and forced out of his headlining title defense against Eddie Wineland next month. The three-round light heavyweight bout between former UFC champion Rashad Evans and former PRIDE and Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson, originally slated as the event's co-main event, now moves to the top of the card. In addition, heavyweight contender Roy Nelson has been added to the card, as he will take on 9-1 Stipe Miocic. Miocic had originally been scheduled to face Soa "The Hulk" Palelei at the event. The news was first released via MMA Junkie/USA Today on Tuesday night.

www.ufc.com

[keithlewis]

Isaac Vallie-Flagg on Wednesday morning announced his withdrawal from a UFC 161 bout against Sam Stout. UFC officials moved swiftly, however, and Wednesday afternoon announced that James Krause had agreed to step in and keep Stout on the Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, fight card.

[keithlewis]

**UPDATE**

Despite rumors to the contrary, Mauricio Rua will not be facing Chael Sonnen at UFC 161.

With less than two weeks remaining before the June 15 event, the UFC announced on Monday evening that no replacement opponent had been found for the former light heavyweight champion. Instead, Rua will compete on a card “soon,” according to the promotion. “Shogun” was originally scheduled to face Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, but “Minotoro” was forced to withdraw from the contest due to a herniated disk.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/With-N ... Card-52983

When the news broke that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira had suffered a back injury forcing him out of the scheduled rematch with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 161, Chael Sonnen offered to step up as his replacement.

Sonnen took to Twitter to lobby for the bout late Sunday evening. Brazilian website Combate.com reported on Monday that Sonnen has indeed been named Nogueira’s replacement and will face Rua on the June 15 fight card.

The fight, however, is not confirmed. According to http://www.MMAWeekly.com content partner Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole, the match-up is only in the discussion phase.

Iole spoke with UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta who said the fight is not confirmed, but ”we are having that discussion.”

Rua (21-7) is coming off a decision loss to Alexander Gustafsson on Dec. 8, 2012.

Sonnen (27-13-1) has lost back to back title fights in his last two outings, losing to middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva at UFC 148 and to light heavyweight champion Jon Jones on April 27. UFC 161 takes place at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on June 15 and is headlined by a light heavyweight match-up between former champion Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson.

Source - http://www.mmaweekly.com/report-chael-s ... at-ufc-161

[keithlewis]

Here is the official announcement from the UFC:

Winnipeg's upcoming UFC event has undergone its third injury-related change in three weeks, this one bumping the planned co-main event off the card entirely. Light heavyweight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been injured in training and forced out of his planned bout with former champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Shogun will instead be booked on a card later this summer and UFC 161 will proceed with 11 bouts.