Sam Stout vs. Yves Edwards is now official for UFC 131 in Vancouver according to HeavyMMA.com.

UFC officials announced the match up earlier this week.

Edwards last competed at “UFC: Fight for the Troops 2″ this past January, earning an impression submission victory over Cody McKenzie late in the second round of their contest. Prior to that fight, Edwards defeated John Gunderson via unanimous decision at “UFC Fight Night: Marquardt vs. Palhares.” The bout marked his return to the UFC after a four year absence.

Meanwhile, Stout has yet to compete in 2011, but he did end off 2010 with a victory, defeating Paul Taylor via split-decision at UFC 121 last October. The win was his third in four fights with the other victories coming over Joe Lauzon and Matt Wiman. His lone loss since 2009 came against Jeremy Stephens at UFC 113.

UFC 131 is set for Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on June 11 and features a heavyweight main event between Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos. Edwards vs. Stout is the eleventh bout to be made official for the highly-anticipated event.

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Tonight brings the rematch of Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua with UFC 113: Machida vs. Shogun 2 from the Bell Centre in Montreal. The card doesn’t have a lot of overwhelming bouts outside of the main event, but each fight should be interesting. Here are my picks for tonight’s main card:

UFC Light Heavyweight Championship – Lyoto Machida (16-0) vs. Mauricio Rua (18-4) – Shogun exposed weaknesses in Machida’s once-thought unstoppable style in the first meeting at UFC 104. Now, in this rematch, look for Machida to approach the fight from a different style and make the proper adjustments to win this fight decisively. Shogun gave one of his best efforts at UFC 104 and he has the potential to win this fight, but Machida has a better team around him to have him prepared to win this contest. I like Machida to win by TKO in round four.

UFC Welterweight Bout – Josh Koscheck (16-4) vs. Paul Daley (23-8-2) – This fight will determine who will coach alongside UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges St. Pierre, in the next Ultimate Fighter and also be the new No. 1 contender to St. Pierre’s title. This fight can be won by Koscheck if he checks his ego at the door and takes the fight to the ground as Daley is the better and more powerful striker but struggles on the ground. Look for Koscheck to feel Daley out early, but eventually rely on his wrestling skills to get the fight to the ground where he will sink in a choke in round two.

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