Shane Carwin Expects To Return at UFC 131

Shane Carwin at UFC 116

Shane Carwin

Shane Carwin expects to return at UFC 131

Former UFC Heavyweight Interim Champion Shane Carwin expects to return to the Octagon at UFC 131 on June 11 in Vancouver.

Carwin has been sidelined while he recovers from back surgery. He was originally scheduled to face Roy Nelson at UFC 125 but withdrew due to the back injury.

He was rumored to be returning at UFC 130 against Nelson, but announced on his official website, Shane-Carwin.com, that he’ll likely be back in action at UFC 131.

“A couple of weeks ago they (UFC) requested that I fight in late May or early June. I have subsequently “tweeted” that those are my target return dates. I want to fight as much as possible this year,” wrote Carwin.

“Last week we got the call from Joe Silva asking if we would consider fighting Nelson at UFC 130. We accepted the match up and UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva said that it was 90% a go,” explained Carwin. “The next day we were informed that they went a different direction for Nelson and that they want me to fight someone at UFC 131 in Vancouver. I have once again rapidly accepted the date.”

Nelson is expected to fight Frank Mir at UFC 130 and Carwin will face an undetermined opponent at UFC 131.

“As of this blog no opponent has been mentioned,” said the heavyweight contender. “I am training hard and working on fixing the issues I ran into during the Lesnar fight. I will be ready and I hope that I am indeed fighting in June in B.C.”

Carwin is coming off a loss to former UFC heavyweight titleholder Brock Lesnar at UFC 116 in July.

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