UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woodely

[No More Sorrow]

As confirmed by UFC president Dana White, the UFC will make its first visit to the Canadian province of Manitoba for UFC 161, which is slated for June 15th at Winnipeg’s MTS Centre. Two big-name light-heavyweight bouts are already tied to the card.

First up, Dan Henderson will try to bounce back from his split-decision loss against Lyoto Machida with a match against Rashad Evans, who could also use a little redemption following his own low-energy loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 156. That defeat made it back-to-back losses for Suga, who previously fell short in his title challenge against Jon Jones. (Fun fact: The “Blackzilians” team that Evans belongs to currently holds a record of 12-15 in the UFC, with only Michael Johnson batting above .500.)


Speaking of Lil’ Nog, the Brazilian vet will be carrying a two-fight win streak into the Octagon with him at UFC 161 when he faces Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who’s coming off his defeat against Alexander Gustafsson. The fight will come eight years after Rua won a decision against Nogueira in their first meeting at Pride Critical Countdown 2005, during the quarterfinals of PRIDE’s 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix — and apparently, these guys have been jawing about a rematch for some time now. But of course, Shogun isn’t the young phenom he used to be, and Nogueira definitely has some miles left in him.

After a one-and-done dip in the Octagon’s middleweight pond, Jake Shields (pictured) will return to the welterweight division to fight fellow former Strikeforce star Tyron Woodley at UFC 161.


Shields confirmed the heavily rumored scrap late Tuesday night via Twitter.


Shields posted an uneventful unanimous decision victory over Ed Herman at UFC 150. However, the 34-year-old flunked his post-fight drug test and was issued a six-month suspension.


The August bout was subsequently overturned to a no contest.


The former Strikeforce middleweight champion owns a respectable 27–6–1 (1 NC) professional record, but has won just two of five under the UFC’s banner.


Woodley made his big league debut in spectacular fashion by knocking out Jay Hieron in 36 seconds at UFC 156. The wrestler holds an impressive 11-1 resume.

This card is shaping up to be a good one, At this time it seems as if Hendo vs. Rashad is going to be maineventing.

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

Hendo/Shad and Shogun/Nog could be good, or they could both be terrible fights. All four fighters best days are behind them and theres no getting around the fact that Hendo is now 42-43 and slow as fuck.

Hendo/Shad and Shogun/Nog could be good, or they could both be terrible fights. All four fighters best days are behind them and theres no getting around the fact that Hendo is now 42-43 and slow as fuck.

 

[Slim]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

Depends on if Shad decides to try to slap hands with Hendo all night or not like he was doing with Lil Nog. Shad gotta fight like he did against Tito. Show some aggressiveness.

Lil Nog vs. Rua... should be aight. Shogun doesn't back down from fights. He goes at it against whoever it is. Just hopefully he can win this one.

Shields dropping back down to welterweight... well I dunno why but hopefully he can win this one.

 

[The Cork]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

Fully expecting Hendo/Shad to be a stinker, and considering how both guys last fight went it's yet another piece of awful matchmaking by the UFC.

Rashad reallly needs to move down weight, all he is at 205 is a glorified gatekeeper and he's better than that.

 

[Dale]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

According to the UFC Twitter feed there's a still a main event to be announced, so not shaping up badly at all.

 

[No More Sorrow]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

Renan Barao vs. Eddie Wineland has been announced as the mainevent of this show.

 

[Dale]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

Pat Barry vs Shawn Jordan also added. I do like watching HD fight so i'll be looking out for that.

 

[The Cork]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

Pat Barry vs Shawn Jordan also added. I do like watching HD fight so i'll be looking out for that.

Watch Jordan vs Kongo and see if you're still looking forward to it.

:

 

[Dale]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

I don't think I want to see anything with Kongo, but I have faith that Barry will make the fight entertaining like he usually does even if it means him getting KO'd himself.

 

[Deezy]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

Somebody gonna get eaten alive by all the Jumanji mosquitoes out in the Peg.

 

[Troy]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

Rashad was so disappointing last fight, weak performance from him and hopefully we don't see that version show up this fight. Rashad seems determined to get one more shot against Jones and if he fails at that he will drop down. He would be a good opponent for Silva if he did drop.

Can't stand Shields so hopefully Woodely KOs him.

 

[Slim]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

I'm just hoping that Shields brings back that sub game and starts subbing guys.

 

[Troy]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

He needs to bring whatever he had back in his Strikeforce days because his UFC career has been terrible.

 

[Slim]

Re: UFC 161 Made Official With Hendo vs. Evans, Shogun vs. Lil Nog 2, Shields vs. Woo

He needs to bring whatever he had back in his Strikeforce days because his UFC career has been terrible.

Completely agree. He fought Henderson at 185, withstood a first round onslaught to win and keep his title. He comes over to the UFC and it's ... average at best. He has the sub game. He is starting to improve his striking but he still isn't showing what he had yet. Maybe this fight will be the beginning. I still think he shoulda stayed at middleweight instead of dropping back down to welterweight.