UFC 116 gains one televised and one preliminary card bout
UFC 116 is beginning to come together just under two months prior to the event, as the promotion has announced two more bouts as official for the card. A lightweight match up between Kurt Pellegrino and George Sotiropoulos has been booked for the evening’s televised main card.
Pellegrino is coming off an impressive submission victory over submission ace Fabricio Camoes at UFC 111 in Newark, New Jersey. The victory pushed Pellegrino’s winning streak to four consecutive fights and the 31 year old is making a strong case for a title shot. He holds a professional record of 15-4 with ten of those wins coming by way of submission.
Sotiropoulos, who has quickly escalated in the lightweight ranks of the UFC, last fought at UFC 110 in Australia, where he simply dominated Joe Stevenson en route to a unanimous decision victory. Sotiropoulos is sitting on a six-fight winning streak and is currently undefeated (5-0) in the UFC. He last lost in October of 2006 via disqualification against Shinya Aoki.
Welterweights Roberts, Paulino face off on preliminary card bout
The other announced match up, a welterweight duel between Julio Paulino and Daniel Roberts, will grace the preliminary card of the evening.
Spending the vast majority of his career fighting in Alaska, Paulino made his debut with the UFC at “UFC on Versus 1.” The result was a disappointing one, as Paulino dropped a unanimous decision to Mike Pierce on the preliminary card. The loss pushed his record to 17-3.
Roberts, who also appeared on the “UFC on Versus 1” preliminary card, had a disappointing performance in his last outing, getting knocked out cold by John Howard in the first round. The bout was his debut with the UFC and also the first time he had lost in his 10-fight career.
UFC 116 is set for July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main card features a colossal heavyweight title match up between champion Brock Lesnar, who is returning after health problems forced him out of prior dates for the fight, and interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin, who decimated Frank Mir at UFC 111. The main card also features a middleweight bout between Yoshihiro Akiyama and Wanderlei Silva.