11 Fights Signed for UFC 116

Two-division Ring of Combat champion Ricardo Romero will make his promotional debut against Seth Petruzelli in a preliminary light heavyweight matchup at UFC 116 “Lesnar vs. Carwin” on July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Eleven fights have now been booked for the event.

Romero will carry a five-fight winning streak into his Octagon debut. Based at the AMA Fight Club in New Jersey, the 32-year-old last appeared at Ring of Combat 27 in November, when he submitted Silmar Rodrigo with a first-round keylock. Romero has secured nine of his 10 career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission, finishing six opponents inside the first round. He suffered his lone defeat in September 2008, when he was disqualified for an illegal soccer kick against Glen Sandull.

In two UFC appearances, Petruzelli has yet to achieve victory. The 30-year-old has not competed inside the Octagon since submitting to a guillotine choke from American Top Team’s Wilson Gouveia more than three years ago. Petruzelli has stopped four consecutive opponents in the first round and needed just 67 seconds to submit Ryan White with an armbar under the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts banner in May. He remains best known for his nationally televised 14-second TKO victory against Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson at EliteXC “Heat” in October 2008.

UFC 116 will be headlined by a blockbuster heavyweight title unification match between returning champion Brock Lesnar and undefeated interim titleholder Shane Carwin, along with a middleweight duel pairing Brazilian icon Wanderlei Silva with the world-ranked Yoshihiro Akiyama.

UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin
Saturday, July 3
MGM Grand Garden Arena
Las Vegas

UFC Heavyweight Championship
Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin

Wanderlei Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown
Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
George Sotiropoulos vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer
Kendall Grove vs. Goran Reljic
Gerald Harris vs. Dave Branch
Daniel Roberts vs. Julio Paulino
Ricardo Romero vs. Seth Petruzelli
Jon Madsen vs. Karlos Vemola