USA TODAY Sports
Great news for Canadian fights fans as the world's largest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion has begun stacking its upcoming UFC 161 fight card for June 15 in Winnipeg.
You know those two blockbuster fights we've been yapping about for the past week or so?
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has found them a home, penciling in the Light Heavyweight match-ups between Dan Henderson vs. Rashad Evans and Mauricio Rua vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the UFC 161 pay-per-view (PPV) event from the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on June 15, 2013.
USA Today confirmed the bookings earlier today.
Of the four, Nogueira is the only fighter coming off a win. It's two wins, actually, After beating the brakes off Tito Ortiz in late 2011, he outboxed Evans at UFC 156 just last month. "Suga" is no longer in the 205-pound "mix," which is why he's the perfect fit for Henderson (more on their upcoming fight here).
"Hendo" was unable to convince the judges he was better than Lyoto Machida at UFC 157 in Anaheim.
That leaves us with Rua, who like Evans, has already held the division strap. Unfortunately it's all been hit-or-miss for "Shogun" after that and the Brazilian is a mediocre 5-5 in his Octagon career. Naturally, that can all change with a win against "Little Nog" in a rematch from their PRIDE FC bout back in 2005 (details here).
With the exception of a possible Tyron Woodley vs. Jake Shields bout, no other match-ups have been announced for the UFC 161 fight card; however, keep it locked in to MMAmania.com for all the latest and greatest updates as they become available.
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