Shane Carwin vs Roy Nelson at UFC 125

As previously reported, Shane Carwin will be making his return at ufc 125, though no opponent was mentioned at the time of the reveal.

Carwin himself, in fact, made the news of his return on his official Twitter page (@ShaneCarwin), and since then many have speculated who the former title challenger will be facing.

In his last outing, Carwin attempted to unify his interim heavyweight title, which he earned with a first round knockout of former champion Frank Mir at UFC 111, when he tangled with the current title holder in Brock Lesnar, at UFC 116 last July. After a dominant first-round turned in, where “The Engineer” was able to drop Lesnar with a barrage of punches, eventually gassing himself when he unloaded a heavy dose of ground and pound that had left Brock on the ropes, but otherwise still in the fight.

Lesnar survived the first round scare to turn it all around in the second, eventually taking down the former Division II All-American collegiate wrestler, working to mount, before submitting the 265-pound Goliath with a an arm-triangle choke. The loss snapped an undefeated streak of 12-wins in a row for the Greg Jackson product.

Now returning to action after the disappointing loss, Carwin will tangle with former IFL heavyweight champion and “The Ultimate Fighter” season 10 winner, Roy Nelson.

“Big Country” himself, is coming off a loss of his own. After going 2-0 inside the promotion with a win over hot prospect Brendan Schaub, to claim the TUF title last December, and an additional win over up-and-comer Stef Struve (UFC Fight Night 21, in March of this year)—both by way of knockout, Nelson’s run to the top was derailed when he met Brazilian striker, Junior dos Santos.

Though competitive throughout the whole bout, unfaltering even after being knocked down twice inside of the first round, Nelson walked away from the bout the loser, when a unanimous decision went the way of the Team Nogueria product, who trains alongside the Nogueria brothers (of course) as well as champions Rafael “Feijao” of Strikeforce, and current UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva.

Junior and Nelson were vying for a number one contender’s spot, against the winner of the Brock Lesnar/ Cain Velasquez showdown, which is going down at UFC 121 on October 23.

Nelson and Carwin, though not officially confirmed, will likely serve on the main card for the January pay-per-view card, which is taking place in Las Vegas, Nev. The news was first broke by MiddleEasy.com.

So, MMA peeps, what do you make of the match up? Who do you think will walk away the victor? Sound off in the comment section below.