The news was first reported by John Morgan of MMAjunkie.com, who states in his report that signed bout agreements have yet to be secured but that both fighters have verbally committed themselves to the fight.

The TUF 9 finale will take place on Saturday, June 20 at the Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas and will be televised on Spike TV. In addition to the finals of the current season’s lightweight and welterweight tournaments, the show will be headlined by a lightweight bout between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida.

Schafer, 11-3-2, is 2-0 since returning to the UFC. He made his Octagon return this past September at UFC Fight Night 15, where he recorded a first round submission victory over Houston Alexander. Schafer then recorded a first round TKO win against Antonio Mendes at UFC 93 this past January.

He will look to improve to 3-0 in his UFC comeback when he faces Drwal, a Polish fighter with a lifetime record of 15-2. Drwal made his Octagon debut at UFC 75 in September of 2007, losing to Thiago Silva via second round TKO. He did not fight again for a year and a half, returning at UFC 93, where he knocked out Italian fighter Ivan Serati just 2:02 into their fight.

The news is courtesy of a report by our friends at MMAjunkie.com.

Serati, 10-2, is 35 and a native of Milan, Italy. Much like fellow countryman and current UFC middleweight Alessio Sakara, Serati has a background in boxing. He only decided to leave boxing for MMA just two years ago and debuted in May of 2006 at an event called the “New Generation Tournament” in Italy. Facing Alfredo Achilli, Serati was victorious by way of TKO at 0:26 of round 1.

Following his debut, Serati spent most of his time competing on the regional UK circuit and proceeded to reel off five consecutive wins before suffering his first career defeat against former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort during Cage Rage 21 in April of 2007. Facing the more experienced Belfort, Serati was TKO’d at 3:37 of round 1.

Following the loss to Belfort, he went 1-1 in his next two fights before beginning a four fight win streak that would ultimately earn him a spot in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.

Drwal, a native of Poland, made his his UFC debut at UFC 75 in London last September, where he lost to Thiago Silva via second round TKO. He has not fought since losing to Silva but boasts a 14-2 lifetime MMA record.

UFC 93 is scheduled from to emanate from the O2 Arena in Dublin, Ireland and will be headlined by a light heavyweight matchup featuring Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson. Additional matchups includes Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Mark Coleman, Denis Kang vs. Alan Belcher, Andre Gusmao vs. Antonio Mendes, Rousimar Palhares vs. Jeremy Horn, and Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle.

It appears that Dan Henderson’s return to the middleweight division wasn’t a one-time deal to challenge UFC champion Anderson Silva. MMAWeekly.com has confirmed with sources close to the camp of Brazilian Top Team fighter Rousimar Palhares that he has signed to fight Henderson in a 185-pound divisional bout at UFC 88 on Sept. 6 in Atlanta.

Wow. You have to like this matchup if you’re an MMA fan. “Toquinho” is one of the best BJJ fighters in the game right now and has great wrestling and takedowns on top of it. Henderson is one of the best wrestlers in all of MMA and has a rock for a right hand. Wrestling vs. BJJ has long been one of the sport’s most intriguing matchups and this falls right in line with that notion. For Palhares, it would be the biggest victory of his career. For Henderson, it’s about treading water in the UFC. Three losses and no victories inside the Octagon would not be good for Henderson but Palhares should be well aware of one thing. Ivan Salaverry, Dan Henderson is not. Great matchmaking, again, by Joe Silva and the UFC.

Update: FiveOuncesofPain.com contacted a high-ranking source within Team Quest Temecula who indicated that Henderson’s next fight has not yet been scheduled.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed the fight with Salaverry’s camp, which received the fight offer just this afternoon. However, the fight was first reported by Sherdog.com, which mentioned the fighter’s likely signing last week.

This is a good first fight for Palhares. Training out of Brazilian Top Team, Palhares comes highly touted at middleweight and should be a nice boost of talent for the division. Salaverry is a journeyman and no pushover, however, and is a solid test for Palhares in his first fight with the UFC. It will be interesting to see how the BTT product performs inside the cage.