UFC President Dana White confirmed Saturday night that there are issues with interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao that puts the scheduled UFC 161 main event in jeopardy.
Barao (30-1, 1 no contest) was scheduled to defend his title against Eddie Wineland (20-8-1) in the main event of the promotion’s debut card in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, at the MTS Centre. The show sold out the 13,000 tickets that were put on sale, for a $3 million gate, the first weekend they were put on sale.
White said in a text message to MMA Fighting.com asking about reports Barao would be off the show, saying, “probably.”
Tatame, a Brazilian MMA publication had earlier in the day reported Barao as suffering a right foot injury and would be off the show.
While Barao vs. Wineland was the listed main event because it was a championship match, the two fights that likely had the most public interest were a pair of light heavyweight matches involving four longtime top stars, Dan Henderson vs. Rashad Evans and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
There is no word on whether if Barao is off the show, the UFC would postpone the match to a later show, or try and get Wineland a new opponent.