Rashad Evans vs. Dan Henderson Takes Over as New UFC 161 Main Event

UFC officials on Tuesday confirmed that interim bantamweight champion Renan Barão sustained an injury that would keep him out of his planned title defense against Eddie Wineland at UFC 161 on June 15.

A short time later, the promotion released an additional statement, noting that the previous co-main event bout between Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson would now serve as the new UFC 161 headliner.

Evans vs. Henderson will remain a three-round bout.

The UFC did not reveal details of Barão’s injury, although Tatame.com reported that he injured his right foot.

Henderson (29-9) was on target to finally score the UFC light heavyweight championship bout that he missed out on at UFC 151 due to injury, but had his plans derailed when he lost a split decision to Lyoto Machida at UFC 157.

Henderson had been on a four-fight winning streak prior to that loss, including victories over Shogun Rua and Fedor Emelianenko.

Evans (17-3-1) is a former UFC light heavyweight champion.

He rode a four-fight winning streak – weathering several setbacks due to injury – into a return shot at the belt at UFC 145, but fell short to champion Jon Jones, his former teammate. Evans followed that up with a flat performance against Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 156 over Super Bowl weekend.

Evans lost both fights by unanimous decision, entering the bout with Henderson in desperate need of a victory.

UFC 161 takes place on Saturday, June 15, at MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.