Rashad Evans (pictured) will face Dan Henderson as the new main event at UFC 161. Photo by Al Bello/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images.

With UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao injured, a match-up between Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson will now headline UFC 161, UFC officials confirmed to GRACIEMAG.com on Tuesday.

UFC officials later announced via Twitter that Barao was injured in preparing for his UFC 161 interim title defense against Eddie Wineland, which opened the way for the Evans-Henderson tilt as the featured bout.

The new main event will be three rounds due to the short-notice nature stemming from the Barao, according to sources close to the match-up. UFC main events are typically five rounds.

UFC officials were still determining what to do with Wineland at the time of this publication, and no information has been shared in terms of where the bantamweight will land on the card, if at all, with his original opponent sidelined.

“Waiting to hear what will happen,” Wineland posted on Twitter following confirmation of Barao’s injury, adding, “Hope (Renan Barao’s) injury isn’t (too) severe! Get well soon bud, hope all is well!”

UFC 161 takes place on June 15 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and also features a light heavyweight rematch between Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

Renan Barao (pictured) will defend his interim bantamweight title against Eddie Wineland at UFC 161. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao will defend his title against Eddie Wineland in the main event at UFC 161, GracieMag.com confirmed with UFC officials on Wednesday.

The fight headlines the card, which will take place on June 15 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada at the MTS Centre.

Barao (30-1, 1 N.C.) enters the fight fresh off his defeat of Michael McDonald at UFC on Fuel TV 7 last month. The fight with Wineland will be his second defense of the interim title, while the champion, Dominick Cruz, recovers from an injury.

Wineland (20-8-1) was the first-ever 135-pound champion in the now-defunct WEC. He comes into the interim title fight with Barao on a two-fight win streak, most recently beating Brad Pickett in a split decision at UFC 155 last December.

Cruz’s coach, Erik Del Fierro, told GracieMag.com on Wednesday that there is no timetable for the champion’s return from a knee injury.

“An ACL is a bad injury,” Del Fierro said through a text message. “He had two surgeries so he is listening to the doctor and [going through] rehab.”

UFC 161 also features a light heavyweight fight between Dan Henderson and Rashad Evans, as well as rematch between Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira from their days in the Pride organization.

The Barao-Wineland match-up was first reported by ESPN.com.

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Demetrious Johnson celebrates defeating John Dodson during thier Flyweight Championship Bout part of UFC on FOX at United Center on January 26, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Al Bello/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC Via Getty Images)

The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale headliner is as small as it gets.

UFC 125-pound champion Demetrious Johnson will defend his title against John Moraga at the April 13 event in Las Vegas, UFC officials confirmed Monday.

The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that Johnson will face Moraga in the main event, and that a venue for the card is still in the works.

Johnson (17-2) is fresh off a unanimous decision win at UFC on FOX 6 last month over John Dodson, successfully defending his flyweight title in the affair. Johnson earned the title with a win over Joseph Benavidez at UFC 152 to become the company’s first 125-pound champ, and he’s not been defeated since dropping to the division from bantamweight in early 2012.

Moraga (13-1) was last seen finishing Chris Cariaso by guillotine choke at UFC 155 last December. The fight was the first bout on the undercard, and Moraga takes a huge leap by headlining a card for a divisional title.

The TUF 17 Finale also features the UFC’s second women’s MMA fight between former Strikeforce bantamweight champ Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano, as well as a heavyweight tilt between Travis Browne and Gabriel Gonzaga.

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Tarec Saffiedine stands in the cage during his welterweight bout against Scott Smith at the Strikeforce event at Sears Centre Arena on July 30, 2011 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Forza LLC/Forza LLC via Getty Images)

After a year of canceled events, numerous injuries to their high-profile athletes and disagreements with Showtime, Strikeforce is closing its doors after their Jan. 12 show.

The fight card, Strikeforce: Marquardt vs. Saffiedine, will be the promotion’s last before it’s all said and done. However, one of the two fighters in the main event, Tarec Saffiedine (13-3), was worried that the last event wouldn’t even happen.

The recent rash of injuries the company suffered made them cancel their two previous events, so Saffiedine thought the same might happen to the upcoming card in Oklahoma City.

“When I heard that Gilbert Melendez and Luke Rockhold got injured and they didn’t find an opponent for Daniel Cormier and other guys, I was like ‘Maybe they’ll cancel the show. Maybe the show’s not going to happen,'” Saffiedine told GRACIEMAG.com. “I was a little worried [about that] more than Nate Marquardt dropping out of the fight. I don’t think it’s his style to back out of a fight … so I was more afraid of the show being completely canceled because of all these injuries.”

According to the fighter, he was skeptical and worried that after dealing with a handful of fighters withdrawing from the card due to different types of injuries, Strikeforce would decide to just call it quits. Luckily for him, they haven’t, and he’ll fight Nate Marquardt in the main event for the Strikeforce welterweight title.

Following UFC 155, UFC president Dana White apologized to all the Strikeforce fighters for the mess they had to deal with over the last several months, saying what the athletes went through is terrible and that he’s disgusted by it.

Dana White was apologetic towards Strikeforce fighters after consecutive canceled shows and the announcement that the promotion would cease after Jan. 12. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

“I should probably sit down with all of them,” White said in Las Vegas following their last Pay-Per-View. “It won’t happen again; [It’s] over now.”

Before speaking with GRACIEMAG.com, Saffiedine didn’t realize White said this, but responded to the apology by saying it’s great to hear that kind of thing coming from the UFC boss. Fighters earn their living by stepping into the cage, so to hear White share his regret for how things went is appreciated. He added, however, that it’s ultimately unnecessary.

“I think it’s nice because a lot of fighters never had the chance to fight as much as … they wanted to,” Saffiedine said when hearing of White’s statement. “I think it’s nice for him to … understand that we all need to fight and we all need to make money. I don’t think he needed to apologize, but I think it’s nice that he did.”

The Belgian fighter has spent nearly the last three years competing exclusively for Strikeforce. It’s been his home since he defeated James Terry by unanimous decision at Strikforce Challengers 6 in February of 2010. After seven fights and finally working his way up to a title opportunity, Saffiedine can’t help but feel a bit saddened by the end of the Strikeforce era.

It was a great organization and a big part of his career, he said, and being on the promotion’s final effort is an honor the Team Quest fighter genuinely appreciates.

After nearly three years fighting only in Strikeforce, Tarec Saffiedine is sad to see the company come to a close. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Forza LLC/Forza LLC via Getty Images)

“It’s sad to see Strikeforce go … [and] I really enjoyed fighting for them for a long time,” he said, remembering all the times he stepped in the cage for the company. “They’ve always been good to me. I always wanted to fight a little bit more, but that was the case for all the fighters …

“I was pretty happy … I’m really thankful to be part of the last show.”

As of right now, no new injuries have set a dark cloud over the upcoming Strikeforce show, and all fighters are currently on pace to compete on Jan. 12. Saffiedine said his camp went “pretty well” and, apart from the typical aches and pains that stem from training, nothing major has kept him from pushing himself at 100 percent.

Once fight night comes and goes, “Sponge,” as he’s been called, will work on the next step of his career: a chance to fight in the UFC.

It’s been a dream of his to fight for the Las Vegas-based promotion, and if he wins his title fight against the former No. 1 UFC middleweight contender, Marquardt, then he might just get his chance.

“Hopefully, I earn a spot,” he said. “My goal is … to be the first Belgian to have a fight in the UFC. That’s what I want to accomplish, and so far I’ve been reaching all my goals.”

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Photo by Erik Fontanez

Following Dan Henderson’s striking coach airing his grievances about Ronda Rousey headlining a UFC card in favor of his fighter, Rousey’s manager, Darin Harvey, said he would feel the same way if he was on the other side.

Harvey told GRACIEMAG.com that the move by the UFC to headline their February Pay-Per-View with his client over Henderson, simply put, is a good business decision. The manager acknowledges, however, that he gets it. Harvey wouldn’t be pleased with the decision if he managed “Hendo.”

“I’m a huge Dan Henderson fan,” he said on Tuesday afternoon. “He can beat anybody in the world on any given day in so many different weight classes. So if I was his management, I guess I would be a little bit upset.”

The February fight card is billed with Rousey as the women’s UFC champion defending her title against Strikeforce and Invicta FC veteran Liz Carmouche in the main event. Henderson will face former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida as the co-main event.

Gus Pugliese, the Team Quest coach that posted on Facebook about why he disagrees with Rousey and Carmouche getting top billing, went on to say that there’s a pecking order for earning opportunities like this one. Henderson and Machida, he said, are high on that pecking order. Rousey, he added, is getting a free ride.

“I believe in paying dues,” he told GRACIEMAG.com earlier today. “In this particular case, Hendo and Machida paid their dues a long time ago. For someone new to come in and have a free ride just seems unfair to them and the whole sport they helped build.”

In reaction, Harvey said that MMA is a business as much as it is a sport. From a marketing perspective, the UFC is doing the right thing, he said, by placing Rousey as the headliner because she’s capable of creating a whole new fan base. His fighter has been featured in Esquire Magazine, Sports Illustrated, as well as doing spots on television with Conan O’Brien and Jim Rome. The mainstream attention requires a full-time public relations representative, he added, and the publicist has no other clients beyond Rousey.

“[The UFC] thinks that Ronda’s going to draw more attention to the sport and the event,” Harvey said. “And it’s for a world title, whether they want to acknowledge it or not.

“No other athlete in the history of MMA has ever accomplished what Ronda has by finishing all her opponents, amateur and pro, within the first round, eight of them within the first minute. It’s unprecedented.

“Ronda is a huge draw right now.”

UFC 157 will take place on Feb. 23, 2013, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

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**An earlier version of this story was missing the quote from Harvey saying “No other athlete in the history of MMA has ever accomplished what Ronda has by finishing all her opponents, amateur and pro, within the first round, eight of them within the first minute. It’s unprecedented.”