Deck Shuffled for UFC 131 Heavyweights

As announced yesterday, Junior dos Santos will now meet Shane Carwin in the main event at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Carwin was originally supposed to meet grappling wizard Jon Olav Einemo, but instead, the debuting Norwegian will now meet Sengoku veteran Dave Herman at the event. Herman was originally scheduled to lock horns with Joey Beltran in his UFC debut, but Beltran will now instead face Aaron Rosa. According to the UFC's announcement, verbal agreements are in place for the bouts.

UFC 131, which marks the promotion's second trip to Vancouver, will also feature the featherweight debut of two-time lightweight title challenger Kenny Florian, as “Ken-Flo” squares off with Nova União fighter Diego Nunes.

A black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Einemo (Pictured) is a former ADCC world champion in his weight division. The Golden Glory fighter began his pro MMA career in 2000, rattling off five-straight victories before running into Fabricio Werdum at Pride 31 in 2006. Though Einemo returned to competition later that year to submit James Thompson, the 35-year-old has not fought since.

By contrast, Herman, 26, just starting fighting in 2006. “Pee-Wee” began his career an impressive 15-0 before tasting defeat for the first time. The heavyweight has won five of his last six bouts, with his only loss in that span coming by disqualification for an illegal knee delivered to Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou in 2010. Most recently, Herman outpointed Yoshihiro Nakao at “Soul of Fight” on Dec. 30.

Beltran comes off back-to-back defeats heading into UFC 131 After starting 2010 with three-straight wins, “The Mexicutioner” fell to Matt Mitrione to close out the year. The 29-year-old started 2011 with a defeat as well, suffering a unanimous decision loss at the hands of Patrick Barry in January.

A veteran of Strikeforce and Bellator competition, Rosa has won his last four bouts. Most recently, the 27-year-old bested Abe Wagner on a national stage, choking out the former “Ultimate Fighter 10” contestant at Titan Fighting Championship 17 on March 25.