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Bellator MMA will head to New Mexico on July 31, and will be bringing welterweight champion Ben Askren with them.

The card, which will go down from the Santa Ana Star Center, will boast Askren defending his belt against Andrey Koreshkov and the finals in the welterweight tournament between Douglas Lima and Ben Saunders.

“I’ll be 110% ready for this fight,” Koreshkov said. “I’ll make sure that Askren’s tactics to put everybody in the audience to sleep won’t work this time. Instead, I’ll keep everybody entertained by putting him to sleep.”

Askren is a perfect 11-0 in his career and is a former U.S. Olympian. Koreshkov finished 2012 with a 5-0 record, including three tournament wins to earn the shot.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back into that cage and putting on a show,” Askren said. “I feel like I’ve continued to mature and get better in every one of my fights, and July 31st should be no different. I don’t think Andrey has any ability to stop my wrestling and ground attack, so this will be another successful title defense.”

Another bout announced features Patricio Pitbull against Rob Emerson in the featherweight division. As always, the main card will air on Spike TV, while the prelims are streamed.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The loss of Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland has been filled, as heavyweights Roy Nelson and Stipe Miocic will square off as part of the UFC 161 main card in June.

The event takes place June 15 from the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. Barao was forced out of the main event when he suffered torn ligaments in his foot. The new headline fight features Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson.

Nelson (19-7) was viewed last week as a potential fill-in for this Saturday’s card if Mark Hunt couldn’t obtain a visa in time to face Junior dos Santos. “Big Country” has won three straight, including a finish of Cheick Kongo recently.

Miocic (9-1) suffered his first pro defeat at the hands of Stefan Struve in his last fight.

MMAjunkie.com first reported news of the fight late Tuesday night.

The last time Josh Barnett appeared inside the Octagon, he was being awarded the UFC heavyweight title.

However, Barnett was later stripped of the belt and left the promotion, taking his MMA – and pro wrestling skills – all over the planet.

Now, 11 years later, Barnett has signed back with the UFC, as MMAjunkie.com reported recently that “The Warmaster” has agreed to a multi-fight deal. No date has been set for his fight.

Barnett is 32-6 in his career and won four of his five UFC bouts. He is coming off a win in his last appearance with Strikeforce earlier this year after having his lengthy win streak snapped by Daniel Cormier.

Where do you feel Barnett fits into the UFC’s heavyweight landscape right now? Is he a contender right away, or does he need to prove himself with a win or two?

Right now, former interim UFC welterweight champion Carlos Condit knows he has a weakness in his game.

Condit, coming off back-to-back losses to Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks, is focusing in on improving his wrestling – an area that hurt him vs. both GSP and Hendricks.

So, while the UFC wants to get him back in the Octagon as soon as possible, Condit’s manager sees more of this summer for a fight getting lined up.

“The UFC has been talking about a fight for Carlos Condit, but Carlos right now at this moment is looking to improve his wrestling,” said Malki Kawa on Great Debate Radio. “He’s really concentrating on that a lot. I’ll have a conversation with Carlos this week and figure out if he wants to do something in August or September.”

Condit has plenty of available fighters to meet at 170 pounds, as the division is one of the deepest in the UFC.

Photo credit: Twitter

Glover Teixeira is one fight away from an awe inspiring 19 fight win streak. Teixeira is currently 20-2 with a 3-0 UFC record; his opponent will be James Te-Huna.

Antonio Silva is set to duke it out with Cain Velasquez for a second time. This time Silva says the fight will go quite differently, and he promises a victory.

Vitor Belfort caught many off guard over the weekend when he asked that a reporter be “beat up” for questioning him about TRT after a win over Luke Rockhold.

To all my fans and to all the reporters that was there on the after press conference I would like to ask for forgiveness the way I answer about TRT I RECOGNIZE THAT I ANWSER IN A IMMATURE WAY BUT WAS THE 10 th time that that reporter ask the same question. No excuse!! I made a WORNG call and I am here to ask for forgiveness God bless all you guys love to do what I do and I am keeping moving UP SEEKING GROW AS A MEN OF GOD AND AS A FIGHTER “DONT DOUT ME I WILL PROUVE U WORNG” PEACE

Belfort, the subject of testosterone replacement therapy for the past several months, landed a spinning heel kick that floored the former Strikeforce champion. While he has said that all the testing has been done to keep his levels in-check, the idea that “The Phenom” gets the exemption doesn’t sit well with many.

Several years ago, Belfort tested positive for steroids and was suspended in Nevada. The Nevada Athletic Commission has said he probably wouldn’t be TRT-approved if a fight was scheduled for the state, but so far, Belfort has only fought in Brazil this year.

And just like that, UFC 161 and the fine folks in Canada have a new main event, as light heavyweights Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson replace interim UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland.

Barao suffered torn ligaments in his foot and was forced to remove himself from the June 15 card in Winnipeg.

Evans, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, enters looking to snap a two-fight losing skid to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Jon Jones. “Suga” is 17-3-1 in his MMA career.

Henderson, meanwhile, was defeated by Lyoto Machida earlier this year, dropping his overall record to 29-9. He has won four of his last five fights overall.

Barao is out of #UFC161 with an injury. Main event for 161 is now Evans vs Henderson.

— UFC (@ufc) May 21, 2013

Renan Barao has been forced to remove himself from a planned main event fight with Eddie Wineland next month, as the interim UFC bantamweight champion suffered torn ligaments in his foot during training camp.

UFC president Dana White confirmed with MMAjunkie.com on Tuesday a report dating back to this past weekend that stated Barao would be forced off the card. White added that there are no plans yet in place as far as a new opponent for Wineland.

The event, UFC 161, which goes down June 15 from Winnipeg, currently features light heavyweight bouts between Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, and Dan Henderson and Rashad Evans.

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Former Strikeforce champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza climbed to No. 6 in the latest official UFC middleweight rankings, which were released on Monday.

Souza, who submitted Chris Camozzi in the first round in Brazil, improved two slots after his Octagon debut.

The event featured only a handful of ranked fighters, as Nik Lentz and John Lineker each moved up, as well.

Luke Rockhold, who was defeated by Vitor Belfort in the main event, fell twice spots to No. 7 in the middleweight Top-10.

Complete rankings can be viewed by clicking here. They will also be updated next week.