· UFC Adds Five Bouts To “UFC 128: Shogun vs. Evans” On March 19

"UFC 128: Shogun vs. Evans" is official for the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on March 19, the organization announced today.

The first announcement confirmed a light heavyweight championship bout between Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Rashad Evans, and a bantamweight bout between Urijah Faber and Eddie Wineland. Later, UFC officials added confirmations of three more bouts: Kurt Pellegrino vs. Gleison Tibau, Edson Barboza vs. Anthony Njokuani, and Ian Loveland vs. Joseph Benavidez.

Rua (19-4, 3-2 UFC) won the light heavyweight title in his rematch with Lyoto Machida last May, but he has not defended the championship since, due to an injury. Evans (15-1-1, 10-1-1 UFC) became the No. 1 contender just weeks later with a victory over Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, and he then decided to sit out to wait for a matchup with Rua.

Faber (24-4, 9-3 Zuffa) was expected to receive a bantamweight title shot after a victory over Takeya Mizugaki at WEC 52, but he will instead face former bantamweight champion Eddie Wineland (18-6-1, 5-2 Zuffa) in what is expected to be a main card bout. Faber reigned as the longtime featherweight champion in the WEC, but he is just 3-3 in his last six fights. He dropped to bantamweight to face Mizugaki at the penultimate WEC event in November. Wineland is currently riding a four-fight win streak, including impressive knockouts over Will Campuzano and Ken Stone in his last two bouts.

Pellegrino (16-5, 7-4 UFC), a New Jersey native, had been steadily climbing the 155-pound rankings before a July loss and injury against George Sotiropoulos derailed his title hopes. He now looks to rebound against Tibau (21-7, 7-5 UFC), a member of American Top Team who has had an up-and-down UFC run. He is 4-2 in his last six bouts, but the inability to put together a consistent winning streak has plagued the native Brazilian.

A striker's dream matchup is slated to take place in the form of a lightweight bout between Edson Barboza (7-0, 1-0 UFC) and Anthony Njokuani (13-4, 4-3 Zuffa), who makes his UFC debut after seven appearances in the WEC. Barboza debuted at UFC 123, lighting up Mike Lullo with a series of devastating leg kicks that eventually earned him the seventh stoppage victory of his career. Njokuani is known as a Muay Thai specialist, but he has struggled with the grappling domain, with three of his four losses coming by way of submission.

The fifth bout added to the event is a bantamweight battle between Joseph Benavidez (13-2, 5-2 Zuffa) and Ian Loveland (14-7, 1-0 UFC). A former No. 1 contender, Benavidez is a training partner of Faber at Team Alpha Male. The accomplished NCAA wrestler has lost to just one man—Dominick Cruz—in his MMA career, but both losses were costly. The first was in 2009 and cost him a shot at the bantamweight title, and the second was in 2010—and was for Cruz's title. An Oregon resident who trains at Team Quest, Loveland is an IFL veteran who debuted in the UFC with a win over Tyler Toner at "The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale" in December. Currently riding a seven-fight win streak, Loveland has finished six fights by knockout and six fights by submission in his career.