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And just like that, UFC 161 and the fine folks in Canada have a new main event, as light heavyweights Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson replace interim UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland.

Barao suffered torn ligaments in his foot and was forced to remove himself from the June 15 card in Winnipeg.

Evans, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, enters looking to snap a two-fight losing skid to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Jon Jones. “Suga” is 17-3-1 in his MMA career.

Henderson, meanwhile, was defeated by Lyoto Machida earlier this year, dropping his overall record to 29-9. He has won four of his last five fights overall.

Barao is out of #UFC161 with an injury. Main event for 161 is now Evans vs Henderson.

— UFC (@ufc) May 21, 2013

Rashad Evans knows what it takes to work to the top of the UFC’s 205-pound division.

After claiming a title on The Ultimate Fighter, “Suga” defeated Forrest Griffin to become the UFC light heavyweight champion.

Since dropping the belt to Lyoto Machida, though, Evans has had troubles inside the Octagon, including recent back-to-back losses to Jon Jones and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

However, upon signing up to meet Dan Henderson later this year, Evans made sure to let everyone know while appearing on MMAjunkie.com Radio recently that retirement is not in his future.

I lose a couple fights, and they’re like, ‘You should retire!’ Fight fans, they get nuts. If you go out there and don’t look sharp, they want you to retire right away.

The meeting with Henderson is one Evans has been hoping for, as he admires the former multi-promotion champ.

“Henderson’s got those bombs,” Evans said. “He’s one of my favorite fighters, so it’s going to be fun to fight him.”

Who pulls out the victory in this key 205-pound tilt, Henderson or Evans?

The UFC’s June card in Winnipeg is setting up to be stacked from top to bottom, as officials confirmed Dan Henderson vs. Rashad Evans for UFC 161.

The card takes place June 15 from the MTS Centre. Henderson-Evans joins Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and Jake Shields vs. Tyron Woodley, as previously announced fights.

None of the three, however, are scheduled to serve as the main event. The promotion still plans to announce that, and it could be UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson’s return from a torn labrum. Johnson was knocked out of a fight with John Moraga due to the injury, and has targeted June for his return.

Henderson (29-9) will be seeking a seventh UFC victory in 10 fights vs. Evans (17-3-1). Both men are coming off losses, as “Hendo” was topped by Lyoto Machida and “Suga” suffered a loss to Nogueira.

A pair of interesting light heavyweight fights are in the works for the UFC’s scheduled Canadian card in June, according to Tatame.com.

Dan Henderson would meet Rashad Evans, while Mauricio “Shogun” Rua gets Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 161.

Henderson (29-9) is coming off a loss to Lyoto Machida last month, while Evans (17-3-1) was dealt a second straight defeat at the hands of Nogueira.

Rua (21-7) defeated Nogueira (21-5) when they met in PRIDE back in 2005. He, however, is also coming off a loss, as Alexander Gustafsson bested him in late 2012.

Nogueira is the lone fighter who won his last match, as mentioned above when he earned a decision over Evans.

“Minotauro” could make a huge jump in the rankings with another win over a former champion, so this could be a big night for him.

The event is expected to be announced for Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada later this week.

Dan Henderson wants nothing more than to step inside the Octagon – or whatever kind of cage it is – and throw down with the best of them.

The former Olympian and champion in numerous organizations, Henderson was frustrated beyond belief in his recent bout with Lyoto Machida.

Machida, an ex-UFC light heavyweight champion, employed his karate style and kept Henderson from ever landing his devastating “H-Bomb.” Recently, Henderson talked with Evan Shoman about the loss, and what is in store for him going forward.

I kind of expected him to run to a point, but I didn’t expect him to not really engage at all. It was probably the most frustrating fight I’ve ever fought. Maybe I should have pressured him more, but I felt like I was pressuring him enough. He was tough to hit. Even the way the fight went, I still thought I had done enough to win, but evidently not.

His teammate, Tarec Saffiedine, recently made it known that “Hendo” was not 100-percent physically for the contest. Henderson confirmed that during the interview.

I didn’t have the best training camp, due injuries and stuff. Towards the end of my camp everything came together and I was able to do what I needed to do during practices, and wasn’t having any issues with injuries. Possibly, because of that, my timing was a little off or footwork wasn’t as good as it could have been. There are a lot of things that I’m normally a little bit better at, but I wasn’t that night. I don’t know if it was the time off or injuries in camp that held me up, but either way I still had the tools to be in there and I should have changed it up a little bit when I knew he wouldn’t engage with me.

After a career that has spanned middleweight, light heavyweight and even heavyweight, Hendo admitted that he could return to 185 pounds “but at this point, I want to stay at 205 pounds. I know I’m capable of winning that belt there.”

Rumors of a potential match with Rashad Evans were started by UFC president Dana White, and it would seem he is not against anything at this point.

I’d consider fighting anybody. As long as I didn’t have to cut too much weight, I’d pretty much fight anybody. I just want to get back in there as soon as possible. I hated the long layoff. I want to fight any one of the top 5 guys and I know I’m capable of beating them. That’ll keep me right up in there. I’ll take any one of them. I could sit here and bitch (about the Machida fight), but it doesn’t help anything. I just want to be active and give the fans what they should have seen the other night.

Wanderlei Silva: After an amazing resurgent performance against Brian Stan, Silva is due for another big name opponent. The entire night captured the nostalgic feelings of PRIDE so why not continue those feelings and match up Silva with Dan Henderson? Henderson is coming off a loss to Lyoto Machida and is no longer in the title picture at 205. We’ve seen two great matches in PRIDE and a third matchup between the two veterans could be a perfect headliner for the next UFC card in Japan.

Mark Hunt: The former PRIDE star is now on a 4-fight win streak in the shallowest division in MMA. He has gone from a possible cut to a guy who is on the cusp of a title shot. Now, there are a few guys at the top of the division who would wipe the floor with him. But against Frank Mir who tends to wilt when faced with big power, he could get inside on Mir early and land big punches on him. If he could fight off Mir’s mediocre wrestling game, he might be able to put away the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and get one step closer to a title fight.

Diego Sanchez: He didn’t look very impressive but he did get the win over Gomi. He is now due for a step up in competition. A top-25 guy like Jamie Varner could be an interesting style matchup for “The Dream.”

Yushin Okami: Okami continues to solider on in the welterweight division after defeating Hector Lombard. He’s not the most exciting fighter and I don’t see him getting himself in the discussion for a rematch with Anderson Silva soon. But, he can still serve the UFC well as a high level gatekeeper. Constantinos Philippou and Jacare Souza are two rising fighters in the UFC; Okami would be a good test for the winner of that bout which takes place in May in Brazil.

Rani Yahya: He keeps winning but it’s hard to be impressed with a featherweight who gasses hard in almost all of his bouts. Manny Gamburian needs a fight after dropping out of his bout with Chad Mendes. It would be an interesting matchup of striker vs. grappler and we might be able to see whether or not Yahya is for real.

Dong-Hyun Kim: John Hathaway is getting closer to a title shot and Dong-Hyun Kim is making his own case for a shot at St. Pierre’s belt. Putting the two together will show us whether or not John Hathaway can handle Kim, who has a similar smothering top-game as the champion.

What do you think fight fans? Get at me @samgenovese on Twitter.

UFC president Dana White shot down Rashad Evans’ recent request to meet Mauricio “Shogun” Rua during an appearance on UFC Tonight.

“No, that fight’s probably not going to happen. If any fight happens, it would probably be Rashad Evans vs. Dan Henderson,” White said.

Evans made reference to facing the fellow former UFC light heavyweight champion while appearing on FUEL TV recently. He was defeated by Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in early February.

Rua is also coming off a loss, as he was topped by Alexander Gustafsson in late 2012. Henderson, following the trend, was defeated in his previous fight, as well.

Personally, I’d prefer to see Evans vs. Rua, as I see Evans vs. Henderson being a slow, methodical match – much like Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida was.

Dan Henderson, despite a loss, earned the largest paycheck at UFC 157. Henderson, who was defeated by Lyoto Machida, netted $250,000 for his effort.

Machida scored $200,000 for the victory, while Robbie Lawler and Urijah Faber each picked up over $100,000.

Ronda Rousey, who claimed a victory over Liz Carmouche in the min event, picked up $90,000 for successfully defending her UFC bantamweight title.

The numbers below, which do not include bonus money or sponsorship money, were confirmed by MMAjunkie.com through the Nevada Athletic Commision.

Ronda Rousey: $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus)

Liz Carmouche: $12,000

Lyoto Machida: $200,000 (no win bonus)

Dan Henderson: $250,000

Urijah Faber: $100,000 (includes $50,000 win bonus)

Ivan Menjivar: $17,000

Court McGee: $40,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus)

Josh Neer: $16,000

Robbie Lawler: $105,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)

Josh Koscheck: $78,000

Brendan Schaub: $36,000 (includes $18,000 win bonus)

Lavar Johnson: $29,000

Mike Chiesa: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)

Anton Kuivanen: $8,000

Dennis Bermudez: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)

Matt Grice: $8,000

Sam Stout: $52,000 (includes $26,000 win bonus)

Caros Fodor: $15,000

Kenny Robertson: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)

Brock Jardine: $8,000

Neil Magny: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)

Jon Manley: $8,000

Nah-Shon Burrell: $12,500 (includes $7,000 win bonus)

Yuri Villefort: $6,550*

* Burrell missed weight and a percentage of his fight purse went to Villefort

Dan Henderson was unable to solve the puzzle that is Lyoto Machida, dropping a split decision in the co-main event of UFC 157.

Henderson, who spent all of 2012 on the sidelines as he waited for a shot at the title only to suffer a knee injury weeks before the fight, posted a message to his fans on Twitter following the loss.

Apologize to my fans for a boring fight, wont happen again. I appreciate the support…be back soon!

— Dan Henderson (@danhendo) February 24, 2013

During the post-fight press conference, the former PRIDE and Strikeforce champion stated that he isn’t planning to retire and wants to compete more often in 2013, targeting a return to the Octagon in June or July.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida made his claim to another shot at the title by besting Dan Henderson Saturday night at UFC 157.

The three-round fight, which many pushed to be a five-rounder, went to the scorecards, and “The Dragon” earned a split decision victory – much to the dismay of the Honda Center crowd.

“Sorry if the fight wasn’t great for you,” Machida said. “It was a very tough fight. I have a lot of respect for him.”

Machida (19-3) landed nine more significant strikes than Henderson (29-9), and used his karate-style to keep the former PRIDE and Strikeforce champion off balance for the majority of the fight.

When the final decision was read, Machida said he was “surprised” that it was a split decision, feeling that he “dominated the first round, second round and third round.”

Machida was previously submitted by Jones in a UFC title match back in 2011. UFC president Dana White stated during the post-fight press conference that Machida is the No. 1 contender and would receive that title shot later this year.