It looks like UFC 161 is going to need a new main event.

According to Brazilian-based Tatame, interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao has been forced to withdraw from a scheduled bout with Eddie Wineland after suffering a foot injury.

Tatame reported that Barao injured his right foot and would not have enough time to recover for the June 15 bout in Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Barao is believed to have one of the longest unbeaten streaks in MMA, having emerged from 31 straight fights without a loss. He is 30-1 with 1 no contest in his career.

Barao had been coming off one of his most impressive victories in the UFC, a fourth-round submission over Michael McDonald at UFC on FUEL 7 in February. Barao had hoped to beat Wineland and look towards a unification fight with injured champion Dominick Cruz.

With Barao out and less than a month to go until the show, the UFC is likely to promote one of two light-heavyweight bouts into the main card slot. In one, Mauricio Rua will face Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. In the other, Rashad Evans squares off with Dan Henderson.

MMA Fighting has UFC on FX 8 results for the Belfort vs. Rockhold fight card May 18, plus live blogs of all the fights and live UFC on FX 8 twitter updates.

In the main event, Vitor Belfort will face former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, who will be making his UFC debut. In the co-main event, Jacare Souza will also make his UFC debut when he squares off against Chris Camozzi.

Check out the full UFC on FX 8 results below.

Main card (FX at 9 p.m. ET)
Vitor Belfort vs. Luke Rockhold
Ronaldo Souza vs. Chris Camozzi
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Evan Dunham
Rafael Natal vs. Joao Zeferino

Undercard (FUEL TV at 6 p.m. ET)
Hacran Dias vs. Nik Lentz
Franciso Trinaldo vs. Mike Rio
Gleison Tibau vs. John Cholish
Paulo Thiago vs. Michel Prazeres
Yuri Alcantara vs. Iliarde Santos
Fabio Maldonado vs. Roger Hollett

Undercard (Facebook at 4:30 p.m.)
John Lineker vs. Azamat Gashimov
Jussier Formiga vs. Chris Cariaso
Lucas Martins vs. Jeremy Larsen

With an event of decent if relatively smaller size by UFC standards, there isn’t necessarily a great deal to weigh-in on. I’d simply say the UFC is beginning to explore territories in Brazil beyond the major cities. One would expect to see a decent gate no matter where the UFC goes, but even if this one isn’t particularly high it still wouldn’t be time to hit the panic button. This is about measuring the depth of this market as much as it is taking advantage of it.

Vitor Belfort vs. Luke Rockhold

At stake: either a title shot or the next best thing. It’s hard to say with high confidence the winner here automatically gets a title shot against the winner of Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman. First, we don’t know what could happen in that bout. One can’t rule out a rematch for any number of reasons. Second, the complexion of the win tonight matters. I find it hard to believe an eeked-out decision is going to be enough to merit the sort of favorable matchmaking both competitors are looking for (short of it being a necessity due to a lack of contenders).

One small note about this bout: bragging rights are on the line, too. Whatever one thinks of Rockhold’s war on TRT, it’s good for promotional value both before and after a bout. He can use this win as an angle for self-promotion and legitimacy should he emerge victorious. For Belfort, he can quit a lot of dissenters (although not all of them).

Ronaldo Souza vs. Chris Camozzi

At stake: a golden opportunity. My description isn’t very, well, descriptive, but here’s what I mean. Camozzi is taking this bout on short notice. Even if he hadn’t done so, he wouldn’t be favored to win the bout. Obviously beating Jacare is easier said than done, but the upside is hard to overstate. He’d continue his unexpected win streak and would achieve the signature win of his career. Literally, he’d be an actual contender overnight should he get past Jacare.

For Souza, he’s expected to win, but an impressive victory can still be sold in any future fight against a top contender as evidence for his legitimacy as he crosses over from Strikeforce to UFC. Middleweight needs contenders, particularly exciting ones. Jacare is poised to jump into a very open position. If he does it with authority, it will be hugely beneficial to his title shot hopes.

Rafael dos Anjos vs. Evan Dunham

At stake: next-level contendership. Both of these fighters occupy very similar spaces. That is, both are regarded as ultra-dangerous, well-rounded lightweights, but ones who have thus far failed to break through in key moments in their careers. Dos Anjos has been building momentum, but had hiccups against Clay Guida, Gleison Tibau and others. Dunham, by contrast, has been a bit more up and down with losses to Melvin Guillard and T.J. Grant among a few other top names in the division.

This bout could say more about the future of the loser than the winner. But the winner needs the demonstrate the ability to keep a winning streak going consistently, fight over fight, against one top competitor after the other. Tonight is a chance to do so.

Rafael Natal vs. Joao Zeferino

At stake: not much, really. Not every UFC bout is full of significance. This one is a bit of a head scratcher. What really surprises me is that in the wake of John Moraga getting a title shot off after only fighting on Facebook, UFC isn’t doing more to properly place the flyweights on this card. If you look at the cards Moraga fought on, it’s hard to justify moving him out of the position he occupied. They could’ve placed him on a different card, but for the events where he competed, his placement is justifiable. One would think with decent to very good flyweights on this card, UFC would be more inclined to give them some FX love here. I guess not. Anyway, Natal vs. Zeferino should be a fine fight, but I can’t imagine it means a whole lot.

Hunt tried to leave New Zealand twice last week but was stopped at the airport both times. When asked if he was worried about having to deal with jet lag on fight week, Hunt looked on the bright side.

“Even if I was,” he said, “what can be done about this?”

Mini-fireworks erupted at the conclusion of the weigh-ins in a packed Arena Jaragua in Santa Catarina, Brazil, for Saturday night’s UFC on FX 8 show.

After headliners Luke Rockhold and Victor Belfort had made weight, each coming in at 186, Rockhold walked up to Belfort for the stare down.

He kept walking, getting close but not bumping Belfort, when Belfort shoved him back hard and started yelling at Rockhold. Officials jumped in between the two before Rockhold was taken off the stage. Belfort then did a throat-cutting motion with his hands while the partisan Brazilian crowd cheered him, a day before their scheduled five-round main event. .

“No come close, no come close,” Belfort said in an interview on Fuel TV afterwards when asked what he was saying as Rockhold was pulled away.

“He’s scared already,” said Belfort. “He feels the heat.”

Rockhold responded when it was his turn on Fuel TV.

“He’s scared. I’m coming for him and I’m going to kick his ass,” Rockhold said.

All fighters but one made weight on Friday afternoon, but there were a lot of close calls. A number of fights missed on the first try and four had to strip down to make it. In total, 17 of the 26 fighters hitting their mark on the nose with the one-pound allowance, and then most began immediately searching out liquids.

The fight is a big one for Rockhold (10-1), a slight favorite over the 36-year-old veteran, in a battle of the two men with the most first round finishes in Strikeforce and UFC history, respectively.

“You doubt, I’ll prove you wrong,” said Belfort (22-10) about oddsmakers favoring Rockhold.

There had been a lot of heat in the weeks leading to the fight with Rockhold critical of Belfort’s past usage of testosterone replacement therapy, in part due to Belfort having tested positive for steroids earlier in his career.

Weigh-in results
Facebook fights (4:30 p.m. Eastern)
Jeremy Larson (155) vs. Lucas Martins (153)
Chris Cariaso (126) vs. Jussier Formiga da Silva (126)
Azamat Gashimiov (126) vs. John Lineker (126)

Fuel fights (6 p.m. Eastern)
Roger Hollett (204) vs. Fabio Maldonado (205)
Iliarde Santos (134) vs. Yuri Alcantara (136)
Michel Prazeres (171) vs. Paulo Thiago (170)
John Cholish (156.2) vs. Gleison Tibau (156)*
Mike Rio (156) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (154)
Nik Lentz (146) vs. Hacran Dias (146)

FX fights (9 p.m. Eastern)
Joao Zeferino (184) vs. Rafael Natal (186)
Evan Dunham (156) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (156)
Chris Camozzi (186) vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (186)
Luke Rockhold (186) vs. Vitor Belfort (186)

* Cholish successfully made weight.

Bellator’s Michelle Ould became the latest fighter to take a jab at Bryan Caraway this week.

Hours after the UFC announced it had suspended Nathan Diaz on Thursday for using a homophobic slur to describe Caraway, Ould, a 7-3 women’s MMA veteran, insinuated on Twitter that Caraway, who spoke out against marijuana following Pat Healy’s suspension earlier this week, was being a hypocrite because he used to sell performance-enhancing drugs.

“Dude use[d] to sell my ex roommate PED’s – but he hates weed -go figure,” she wrote.

Caraway, when reached by MMAFighting.com, vehemently denied the allegation.

“It’s complete BS,” he said. “I don’t like any drugs.”

Caraway’s girlfriend, UFC fighter Miesha Tate, defended her boyfriend on Friday, as well.

“Bryan took a fight unexpectedly on five days’ notice and passed all of his drug tests,” she said. “That’s all the proof anyone should need.”

Following Healy’s suspension, the UFC decided to give the $65,000 submission of the night bonus he was originally awarded to Caraway, who also won via submission on April 27. Upon receiving the bonus, Caraway told MMAJunkie.com that he was strongly against marijuana usage.

On Friday, Caraway appeared to regret his strong anti-marijuana stance. He also refused to get into a public war of words with Diaz.

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion, it’s America,” he said. “But his word choice was poor, same as myself.

“I was too harsh in my interview about marijuana.”

The UFC has yet to announce how much, if any amount, Diaz will be fined for his tweet.

Paul Kelly holds a fairly unique distinction in the UFC, having been released after a Fight of the Night performance at UFC 126. His name will fall into further infamy after Friday, when he was convicted of trafficking heroin in his native United Kingdom.

According to The Liverpool Echo, jurors returned a unanimous verdict after a four-day trial.

The paper reported that the 28-year-old Kelly is facing a “long” prison sentence as a result, but did not specify possible lengths of time.

Judge Mark Brown told jurors that they’d made the right decision, and that he considered Kelly to be the head man in the organization.

Prosecutors successfully argued that Kelly and his friend Christopher St John McGirr were “major” dealers in the area. They were arrested in May 2012 after a series of raids in Liverpool and Sefton. At the time, marijuana plants, heroin and significant amounts of cash were found, police said.

The Echo reported that when the verdict was announced, Kelly shouted “I’ve got two kids,” and his father was removed from the court after an outburst.

Kelly fought nine times in the UFC from Jan. 2008 to Feb. 2011, going 5-4. His most notable win came over Paul Taylor in his debut, a Fight of the Night winning performance at UFC 80. A 1-2 spell ending in a loss to Donald Cerrone at UFC 126 ushered him out of the promotion. He went on to fight three more times, and as recently as this past March, when he won a fight via TKO.

With his pending jail time, Kelly’s professional fighting days are likely to be over.

T.J. Grant heard the critics after the announcement that the winner of his UFC 160 bout with Gray Maynard would get the next shot at Benson Henderson’s lightweight championship.

Several observers, including this reporter, questioned whether a title shot for Maynard or Grant was the wisest decision, given the top of the lightweight division still features the likes of Gilbert Melendez, who many feel deserved the decision in his bout last month against Henderson; and Josh Thomson, who just became the first UFC fighter to knock out Nate Diaz.

Grant, though, knows that in mixed martial arts, one strong night can be all you need to get your bandwagon rolling.

“In this sport, all it takes is one fight to turn people’s opinion around,” Grant said in a recent phone interview with MMAFighting.com. “You get judged off your last fight in this sport. If I beat a guy like Gray Maynard, who’s so well-respected and has been around a long time, that will get people’s attention.”

The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia native has a point. He’s 4-0 since dropping to 155 pounds, the most recent victory an impressive finish of veteran Matt Wiman at UFC on FOX 6.

It only took Chris Weidman one sizzling stoppage over a name fighter, Mark Munoz, to be anointed the next big thing at middleweight. With a high-profile victory at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas over Maynard, who has just one career loss, Grant could do the same.

“I heard what people were saying on Twitter and everything,” said Grant, whose first child, daughter Casey, was born last month. “How Gray hasn’t fought in a year and how there are so many other guys in line and all that. I understand how it goes. I haven’t had the time in the spotlight that some of the other fighters have had.”

“This is a big deal, I fought on national television last time and now I have my first chance to show the fans on pay-per-view what I can do. I’m not going into this acting like I’ve got something to prove, but I hope to be able to show the fans who maybe haven’t seen me that I belong with the top guys in the division.”

Vitor Belfort vs. Luke Rockhold

@ynneKrepmatS: if Belfort knocks out Rockhold on the 18th, Where would he go from there? Title shot or another contender?

Interesting question. If Belfort wins, the UFC is in a tough spot on a couple levels. The first being that Belfort has defeated everyone in his path at middleweight except Anderson Silva, but Silva isn’t likely to be interested in a rematch against a fighter he already easily dispatched. Silva’s clearly not a huge fan of rematches. There’s always been an enticement for his rematches: Against Rich Franklin, it was simply the basic professional courtesy of giving the former champ his title shot; against Yushin Okami, it was a chance to fight in Brazil while avenging a controversial disqualification; and against Chael Sonnen, it was the chance to show his previous win wasn’t simply a lucky submission. There’s no such incentive for Silva to again face Belfort.

The other half of the equation, of course, is the growing brushback to Belfort’s continued success as a TRT user who has been previously suspended for steroid use. The fact UFC president Dana White did an immediate about-face on TRT after Belfort finished Michael Bisping tells you all you need to know.

If Belfort manages to pick off yet another hot fighter who’s perhaps one win away from a title shot in Rockhold, then what do you do with Belfort? The champ doesn’t want him and you can’t afford to keep having him run over contenders. Maybe the next move, should Belfort win, is to basically dare him to come fight in a commission state and see what happens.

@Dpop2: If Rockhold finishes decisively any chance he gets title shot over Weidman?

Well, no. The Silva-Weidman fight is already announced and tickets are on sale. But I’d say 10 consecutive wins by the final Strikeforce champ should be enough to make him next in line after Silva-Weidman. And in the interim, perhaps Rockhold should be given some sort of medal for solving The Belfort Problem.

Pat Healy’s marijuana suspension

@CMooreMMA: Where does Pat Healy’s failed drug test put him in the division? Do you still characterize his 159 win as a win?

Technically, the bout against Jim Miller now goes into the books as a no-contest. But realistically, no one except maybe Bryan Caraway is walking around thinking that if Healy hadn’t smoked a joint sometime during his training camp, Miller would have ran all over him.

Healy-Miller should go down in the memory banks similar to Nick Diaz’s PRIDE fight with Takanori Gomi. Seven years later, you remember Diaz’s sick gogoplata finish and mentally chalk it up as a Diaz win, not the fact the fight was later overturned for the same reason as Healy’s.

It’s unfortunate that Healy’s losing his bonus money. The UFC has made it pretty clear they’re going to lobby the commissions to change the rules regarding marijuana. Hopefully light will dawn on the ABC and they’ll make changes. This issue has been hashed through so often that that there’s really not much left to add at this point, beyond Healy’s situation shining a spotlight on the absurdity of the rules in and of itself.

As for how this affects Healy going forward, I can’t speak for anyone else, but I had Healy at No. 6 in the most recent SBNation lightweight rankings, which is also where he finished in the overall poll. He’ll be ineligible for the 90 days of his suspension, but on day 91, he goes right back in at No. 6, as far as I’m concerned.

And since the UFC has demonstrated that 1. They’re going to follow the rules laid out by the commissions but 2. they know the rules suck in this case, I’m guessing they’ll book Healy for his next fight in a manner commensurate to his ranking.

Bellator’s PR battles

@Futch6: Am I the only one that thinks Bjorn Rebney’s lack of promoting fights/lack of social media skills is horrific?

Rebney’s biggest strength is getting things done behind the scenes. You have to give Rebney credit for simply getting Bellator into the position it’s in now. Bellator debuted during the peak of a crowded MMA marketplace, even when he could only land a clearance on Spanish-language television. The company continually improved its position when common sense seemed to indicate the MMA market was collapsing for everyone except the UFC. And it was in position to capitalize when Viacom was looking to stay in the sport after losing their UFC deal.

That doesn’t translate so well when Rebney’s running a press conference or behind a microphone, because everyone inevitably compares other promoters to Dana White. Rebney might not have White’s brashness, Vince McMahon’s carnival-barker skills or Don King’s, well, Don King-ness, but Bellator doesn’t get as far as it has without him.

@Breadandwater94: If Bellator wins and keeps Alvarez.. Wouldn’t that be a very weird relationship bcuz he publicly trashed them?

It would. There’s simply no way for a huge conglomerate, which main Bellator owner Viacom is, to take on a fighter in the court of public opinion and win. That’s why Rebney stayed quiet until he felt he simply had to speak, and even then, that didn’t work so well. Clearly Viacom and Bellator feel they need to make an example of Alvarez. Should Bellator win in court, I mean, if you’re Alvarez, and your options are a Bellator contract which still pays you significantly more money than you will make anywhere else, or going back to pouring concrete, which one do you think he’s going to choose? It would be awkward for sure, but if push came to shove, even Alvarez has said he’d go back to Bellator if he has to.

Change the channel

@MooksInsight: Have u looked at how bad the undercards are for the next few UFC events? Trash, really really bad.

I never fail to be amazed at how much people complain about things for which they don’t have to pay a dime. Whether it’s web content you read for free, a video you’re watching on YouTube, etc., the amount of griping we collectively do as a society about stuff we get for no cost must make people in lesser developed countries want to wretch.

Don’t like undercard fights that are available in various combinations on Facebook and basic cable (yes, I understand that you pay for basic cable)? No one’s forcing you to watch them. Change the channel. Problem solved. If enough people share your opinion that the undercards are bad, and enough people stop watching, then the UFC would have no choice but to improve the quality of their undercards.

Urijah Faber, flyweight?

@GHS_Forever: How realistic is Faber going to 125?

I asked him that once and he laughed and said “C’mon, man.” Faber’s in his 30s and he looks like a skeleton when he’s weighing in at 135. Nuff said.

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