New York, NY, June 28, 2010 – Spike TV will telecast live coverage of the weigh-ins for the highly-anticipated “UFC 116 Lesnar-Carwin” fight card on Friday, July 2 at 7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT. The main event features a showdown between the top two heavyweight mixed martial artists in the world, UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and interim heavyweight titlist Shane Carwin.

Spike TV also announces it will telecast the light heavyweight clash between “The Ultimate Fighter 2” alum Seth Petruzelli (14-5) and Ricardo Romero (10-1) on Saturday, July 3 at 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The Petruzelli fight will join the already-announced Brendan Schaub-Chris Tuchscherer fight as part of the Spike TV live Prelims.

Fighting out of Orlando, Florida, the veteran Petruzelli scored his first big victory against mixed martial great Dan Severn in January 2004, winning a three-round decision. A year later he joined the cast of “The Ultimate Fighter 2” but lost to Brad Imes in the show’s semifinals. Petruzelli gained worldwide attention in October 2008 when he defeated Kimbo Slice with a first round TKO, and riding a four fight winning streak, he returns to the Octagon to take on Ricardo Romero, making his UFC debut.

Fighting out of New Brunswick, NJ, Romero is 10-1 in his mixed martial arts career, including winning his last five straight. A highly-regarded college wrestler for Rutgers University, Romero also scored a notable victory over “The Ultimate Fighter 10” alum James McSweeney in April 2009. The Petruzelli-Romero fight will replace the Grove-Reljic fight, which will no longer air live on Spike.

Other bouts on the card might air on Spike TV, to be determined by the length of the fights.
Spike TV is available in 98.6 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV’s press site at www.spike.com/press.

Press Release

SYDNEY, Australia (June 16, 2010) – The cage will be ablaze with non-stop MMA action for the “The Uprising” as former UFC Champion and Hall of Fame Member, Ken Shamrock returns to the ring to take on former UFC Champion, Hall of fame member and PRIDE Veteran, Pedro ”The Rock” Rizzo in an exciting PPV event on July 17. In the Co-feature, English MMA fighter, Paul Daley who is ranked as the #8 welterweight in the world by Sherdog.com and ranked #5 by MMA Weekly will do battle with Brazilian MMA fighter, Daniel Acacio who is most notable for his fights in PRIDE Fighting Championships and his aggressive fighting style.

Presented by Impact Fighting Championship (FC), bouts from two incredible fight cards from Australia will be included in the PPV event. The Uprising from Sydney, Australia will go live in the USA at 10:00pm on the East Coast (ET) and 7:00pm on the West Coast (PST) and Canada on July 17th with a card stacked full of action-packed bouts. In addition, the exciting main event from “The Uprising” series from the Brisbane Entertainment Center, Brisbane, Australia, July 10, featuring former UFC heavyweight champion, Josh “The Babyfaced Assassin” Barnett (25-5-0) and Jungle Fight veteran, Geronimo “Mondragon” Dos Santos (18-9-0) will also be included in the Pay-Per-View.

Impact FC has secured some of the world’s best fighters for these upcoming tournaments and will feature some huge names including Pride and UFC veterans. Fans will be thrilled to know that ‘Big John’ McCarthy, former head referee for the Ultimate Fighting Championship will be the referee for The Uprising series.

With a full card that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats, the slate of Uprising match-ups include, Pride K-1 and MMA legend Bob Sapp in a fight for dominance over Australian star and UFC veteran Soa “The Hulk” Palelei, DREAM Middleweight Champion, Paulo Filho will face dangerous striker, Denis Kang, Elite XC Champion and Pride veteran Murilo Ninja Rua with square off against former Ultimate Fighter Jeremy May, former UFC Champion and Pride veteran Murilo Bustamante will battle Jesse Taylor from the Ultimate Fighter, Australian kickboxing legend Peter Graham will fight the #1 ranked Heavyweight MMA fighter in Australia, Jim Yorke, popular MMA star Glover Teixeira is pitted against Croatian fighter from Perth Marco Peselj, Australian surfer and MMA star Richie “Vas” Vaculik is matched with local Australian fighter Luke Hume, and Australia’s rising MMA star Shane Nix will face Sydney’s own Manuel Rodriguez.

Headliner Kenneth (The World’s Most Dangerous Man) Shamrock, (27-13-2) is a UFC Hall of Famer as well as a professional wrestler. One of the biggest stars in MMA, he has headlined over 15 main events and co-main events in the Ultimate Fighting Championships and Pride Fighting Championships and has broken numerous pay-per-view records with his strong fan appeal.

The first UFC Superfight Champion, Shamrock also holds the title of the first MMA Heavyweight Champion in Japan, winning the title of King of Pancrase. During his reign as the UFC Superfight Champion, he was widely considered the #1 MMA fighter in the world.

Brazilian Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo (18-9-0) recognized as one of the best strikers in the business was born to fight. Having returned to the basics, Pedro is training at Claudio Coelho’s gym, has simplified his regimen and is back in top shape, with renewed energy and excitement heading into this fight. The former professional kick boxer was a four-time Brazilian Muay Thai champion. Rizzo won his MMA pro debut via a first-round knockout of Eric Labaille on October 26, 1996. He extended his win streak to nine, including notable triumphs against David “Tank” Abbott (KO1) in UFC: Ultimate Brazil and Mark Coleman (DEC1), before dropping a 5-round decision to Kevin Randleman in their 2000 UFC heavyweight championship fight. “The Rock” responded with back-to-back wins versus Dan Severn (SUB1) and Josh Barnett (KO2), setting up a UFC heavyweight title fight against legendary Randy Couture, who won a decision and six months later, Couture stopped Rizzo on strikes in the third-round of their rematch for the title.

In 2002, Rizzo put Andrei Arlovski to sleep on punches in the third round, but Pedro dropped consecutive fights to Gan McGee (TKO1), and Vladimir Matyushenko (DEC3) to start 2003. A key victory came against MMA veteran Ricco Rodriguez (DEC3).

In a fight against Jeff Monson on September 1, 2007, Rizzo registered a third-round win, in the first pay-per-view event promoted by Art of War. On July 19, 2008, Rizzo fought Josh “The Babyface” Barnett in Affliction Entertainment’s Day of Reckoning and lost, 2nd round 1:44 KO (Punch) .

The main event for the “Uprising” series in Brisbane is a much anticipated event. Josh Barnett is a highly tactical, sound fighter whose world-class submission wrestling skills are notorious. Animated by his trademark humor and bravado, he is one of the top ten ranked heavyweights in MMA and a celebrated wrestling star in Japan. Although his grappling base comes from catch-wrestling, he has an evolved fighting style that combines a well-rounded standup and ground game. Barnett also has size, strength, and conditioning on his side. Barnett has fought in every major fight organization in the world and was scheduled to fight against Fedor for Affliction Entertainment’s Trilogy prior to being disqualified for failing his medical tests. This will be Barnett’s first fight since his disqualification in the U.S., while “Mondragon” has been training all of his life for this moment to take on “The Babyfaced Assassin.”

The 29-year-old “Mondragon” has an impressive record having taken down opponents in 23 professional fights. Prior to losing to Edson Conterraneo at Jungle Fight 17, Dos Santos finished off each of his previous seven opponents, the past three inside the first round. Dos Santos amazed the Brazilian mixed martial arts community when he stopped Assuerio Silva on strikes in just 61 seconds at Jungle Fight 15. He followed the performance with back-to-back first-round submissions against Douglas Humberto and Fabio Monstro.

“The Uprising,” is presented by Impact FC, Saturday, July 17th, 2010 at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT in the United States from local pay-per-view providers for a suggested retail price of only $29.95.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Filthy” Tom Lawlor imitated Dan Severn during the weigh-ins of his last fight at UFC 113 in Montreal. He’s not 100% sure what he’ll do for his next octagon appearance but he’s prepared to perform harakiri (seppuku or Japanese ritual suicide) in the cage if he loses one more bout.

HT: Fight! Magazine

Former two-time welterweight champion Matt Hughes became the eighth man to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame at the UFC Fan Expo in Las Vegas on Friday. He joins fellow inductees Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell and Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr.

Considered the most dominant welterweight champion in UFC history, Hughes made his octagon debut back in 1999. Since then he’s tasted victory an incredible seventeen times, more than any fighter in UFC history. He also boasts the record for most successful UFC title defences of all time (seven) and most consecutive UFC welterweight title defences of all time (five).

Hughes last graced the octagon at UFC 112, defeating Renzo Gracie via third round TKO. He also holds notable victories over the likes of Sean Sherk, B.J Penn, Royce Gracie and current champ Georges St. Pierre.

Hughes is next scheduled to meet Renzo Gracie protégé Ricardo Almeida at UFC 117 on August 7 in Oakland, California.

One of the great mixed martial artists of the short lived sport, Matt Hughes (44-7) can add another accolade to his long list of achievements.

On Friday, the 36-year-old Hughes was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame by UFC president Dana White during a ceremony at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center as part of the UFC Fan Expo.

Hughes was humble in receiving the honor and thanked the fans for supporting the sport which provides his means of living.

“To be honest, it’s you guys that pay that admission that write my check, so I’ve got to take my hat off to you guys.”

In a previous interview, Hughes was shocked to get the call from White but wasn’t surprised as to why he joined other inductee’s such as Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, and Charles “Mask” Lewis.

“I hate looking at myself and telling people what I’ve done,” he said. “I do know that if you look at a piece of paper and if you compare me with other people in the UFC on that piece of paper, yes, I would have more wins than anybody else and defended the title more, so I see why, but I’m just a Midwest guy kinda living the dream.”

A list of those accomplishments are here:

• 44 pro wins
• 17 UFC wins (most all-time)
• 2 welterweight championship reigns
• 7 successful title defenses (most ever)
• 9 championship fight wins (tied with Randy Couture for most ever)
• 5 knockout wins in championship fights (tied with Couture and Chuck Liddell for most ever)
• 5 successful consecutive welterweight title defenses (1st all-time)
• 12 welterweight championship fights (1st all-time)
• 27 welterweight championship rounds fought (tied for 1st all-time with Georges St-Pierre)
• 3 submission wins in welterweight championship fights (1st all-time)
• 6 former or current UFC champions defeated by Hughes (St-Pierre, Serra, BJ Penn, Dave Menne, Sean Sherk, Carlos Newton)

You can find more on the interview with Hughes at UFC.com and the photo comes courtesy of MMAjunkie.com.

The UFC Undisputed 2010 playable demo for PSN and Xbox Live will be released this THURSDAY, APRIL 29TH. Visit the Undisputed Community for all the details on how you can be the first to receive a free code to download it!

The moment you’ve all been waiting for is almost here! The UFC Undisputed 2010 playable demo for PSN and Xbox Live will be released this THURSDAY, APRIL 29TH, and as a member of the UFC Undisputed Community, YOU WILL HAVE EXCLUSIVE FIRST ACCESS TO DOWNLOAD IT FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY.

Featuring 4 Light Heavyweight Fighters — Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, “Sugar” Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, the demo will allow you to jump right into Exhibition Mode or challenge friends offline with Tournament Mode.

The Demo will be available for you to download in the Community AT NO COST TO YOU beginning this Thursday, April 29th but will be limited to ONE CODE PER PERSON for either Xbox Live or PSN.

The full roster of fighters for “UFC Undisputed 2010″ after the jump

Heavyweights

- Mostapha Al-Turk*
- Andrei Arlovski
- Pat Barry*
- Shane Carwin*
- Junior Dos Santos*
- Todd Duffee*
- Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson*
- Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
- Gabriel Gonzaga
- Antoni Hardonk
- Heath Herring
- Marcus Jones#
- Cheick Kongo
- Brock Lesnar
- Justin McCully
- James McSweeney#
- Frank Mir
- Roy Nelson#
- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
- Eddie Sanchez
- Brendan Schaub#
- Dan Severn@
- Stefan Struve*
- Cain Velasquez
- Fabricio Werdum

Heavyweight/Light heavyweights

- Mark Coleman
- Brandon Vera

Light Heavyweights

- Ryan Bader
- Stephan Bonnar
- Jason Brilz*
- Luiz Cane*
- Steve Cantwell*
- Rashad Evans
- Forrest Griffin
- Matt Hamill*
- Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
- Keith Jardine
- Jon Jones*
- Chuck Liddell
- Lyoto Machida
- Tito Ortiz
- Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
- Thiago Silva
- Krzysztof Soszynski*

Light Heavyweight/Middleweights

- Vitor Belfort*
- Michael Bisping
- Rich Franklin
- Wilson Gouveia
- Dan Henderson
- Anderson Silva

Middleweights

- Yoshihiro Akiyama*
- Ricardo Almeida
- Alan Belcher*
- Patrick Cote*
- Kendall Grove
- Dennis Kang*
- Chris Leben
- Demian Maia
- Nate Marquardt
- Drew McFedries
- Dan Miller*
- Yushin Okami
- Nate Quarry*
- Chael Sonnen*

Middleweight/Wetlerweights

- Martin Kampmann
- Mike Swick

Welterweights

- Thiago Alves
- Carlos Condit*
- Marcus Davis
- Jon Fitch
- Royce Gracie@
- Dan Hardy*
- Dustin Hazelett*
- Matt Hughes
- Anthony Johnson
- Dong Hyun Kim*
- Josh Koscheck
- Chris Lytle
- Karo Parisyan
- Amir Sadollah
- Georges St-Pierre
- Paulo Thiago*
- Frank Trigg*
- James Wilks*

Welterweight/Lightweights

- B.J. Penn
- Diego Sanchez
- Matt Serra
- Sean Sherk

Lightweights

- Nate Diaz
- Frankie Edgar
- Efrain Escudero
- Terry Etim*
- Spencer Fisher
- Kenny Florian
- Hermes Franca
- Tyson Griffin
- Clay Guida*
- Joe Lauzon
- Gray Maynard
- Cole Miller*
- Ross Pearson*
- Kurt Pellegrino*
- Jens Pulver@
- Dennis Siver*
- Joe Stevenson
- Caol Uno*

* – New fighters to the “UFC Undisputed” franchise
# – Fighters accessible exclusively with retail promotions (i.e. GameStop in the U.S.)
@ – “Legend” fighters exclusive to the PlayStation 3

Thanks to MMAjunkie.com for making the list easy.

The UFC Undisputed 2010 playable demo for PSN and Xbox Live will be released this THURSDAY, APRIL 29TH. Visit the Undisputed Community for all the details on how you can be the first to receive a free code to download it!

The moment you’ve all been waiting for is almost here! The UFC Undisputed 2010 playable demo for PSN and Xbox Live will be released this THURSDAY, APRIL 29TH, and as a member of the UFC Undisputed Community, YOU WILL HAVE EXCLUSIVE FIRST ACCESS TO DOWNLOAD IT FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY.

Featuring 4 Light Heavyweight Fighters — Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, “Sugar” Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, the demo will allow you to jump right into Exhibition Mode or challenge friends offline with Tournament Mode.

The Demo will be available for you to download in the Community AT NO COST TO YOU beginning this Thursday, April 29th but will be limited to ONE CODE PER PERSON for either Xbox Live or PSN.

The full roster of fighters for “UFC Undisputed 2010″ after the jump

Heavyweights

- Mostapha Al-Turk*
- Andrei Arlovski
- Pat Barry*
- Shane Carwin*
- Junior Dos Santos*
- Todd Duffee*
- Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson*
- Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
- Gabriel Gonzaga
- Antoni Hardonk
- Heath Herring
- Marcus Jones#
- Cheick Kongo
- Brock Lesnar
- Justin McCully
- James McSweeney#
- Frank Mir
- Roy Nelson#
- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
- Eddie Sanchez
- Brendan Schaub#
- Dan Severn@
- Stefan Struve*
- Cain Velasquez
- Fabricio Werdum

Heavyweight/Light heavyweights

- Mark Coleman
- Brandon Vera

Light Heavyweights

- Ryan Bader
- Stephan Bonnar
- Jason Brilz*
- Luiz Cane*
- Steve Cantwell*
- Rashad Evans
- Forrest Griffin
- Matt Hamill*
- Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
- Keith Jardine
- Jon Jones*
- Chuck Liddell
- Lyoto Machida
- Tito Ortiz
- Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
- Thiago Silva
- Krzysztof Soszynski*

Light Heavyweight/Middleweights

- Vitor Belfort*
- Michael Bisping
- Rich Franklin
- Wilson Gouveia
- Dan Henderson
- Anderson Silva

Middleweights

- Yoshihiro Akiyama*
- Ricardo Almeida
- Alan Belcher*
- Patrick Cote*
- Kendall Grove
- Dennis Kang*
- Chris Leben
- Demian Maia
- Nate Marquardt
- Drew McFedries
- Dan Miller*
- Yushin Okami
- Nate Quarry*
- Chael Sonnen*

Middleweight/Wetlerweights

- Martin Kampmann
- Mike Swick

Welterweights

- Thiago Alves
- Carlos Condit*
- Marcus Davis
- Jon Fitch
- Royce Gracie@
- Dan Hardy*
- Dustin Hazelett*
- Matt Hughes
- Anthony Johnson
- Dong Hyun Kim*
- Josh Koscheck
- Chris Lytle
- Karo Parisyan
- Amir Sadollah
- Georges St-Pierre
- Paulo Thiago*
- Frank Trigg*
- James Wilks*

Welterweight/Lightweights

- B.J. Penn
- Diego Sanchez
- Matt Serra
- Sean Sherk

Lightweights

- Nate Diaz
- Frankie Edgar
- Efrain Escudero
- Terry Etim*
- Spencer Fisher
- Kenny Florian
- Hermes Franca
- Tyson Griffin
- Clay Guida*
- Joe Lauzon
- Gray Maynard
- Cole Miller*
- Ross Pearson*
- Kurt Pellegrino*
- Jens Pulver@
- Dennis Siver*
- Joe Stevenson
- Caol Uno*

* – New fighters to the “UFC Undisputed” franchise
# – Fighters accessible exclusively with retail promotions (i.e. GameStop in the U.S.)
@ – “Legend” fighters exclusive to the PlayStation 3

Thanks to MMAjunkie.com for making the list easy.

CHICAGO, Ill. (March 24, 2010) — Luke Zachrich, a longtime protégé of MMA legend Dan Severn, is the latest addition to Bellator Fighting Championships’ upcoming Season 2 middleweight tournament roster.

Zachrich, a mainstay on the Midwest regional circuit, boasts an overall professional record of 10-1 with four wins coming via TKO and six coming via submission. All but one of the victories have come during the first round.

A native of Bryan, Ohio, he played varsity football at Bowling Green State University before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 2005. At around the same time, he began training with Severn, who has notched 92 career wins in the UFC, WEC, PRIDE and countless other promotions over the past 15 years.

“Luke is a great athlete who has learned MMA from great instructors,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “He’s another strong addition to our 185 tournament.”

Zachrich is the seventh confirmed participant in eight-man middleweight tournament, joining Bryan “The Beast” Baker, Jared Hess, Sean Loeffler, Matt Major, Ryan McGivern and Eric Schambari. The group boasts a combined overall winning percentage of .838 (78-15).

Bellator will also conduct tournaments at 145, 155 and 170 lbs. during its second season, with the winners in each division being declared No. 1 contenders to the current Bellator champions. Each of Bellator’s 24 Season 2 and 3 events will be broadcast on FOX Sports Net, NBC, Telemundo and The Score sports network in Canada.

Though Zachrich made his pro MMA debut in 2006, he gained his first national notoriety in the spring of 2008 on The Ultimate Fighter where was a member of the team coached by Forrest Griffin. Zachrich defeated 5-1-1 Patrick Schultz in Episode 2, but fell to future UFC signee Dan Cramer in Episode 6. Since leaving TUF, Zachrich is a perfect 3-0.

Recently, in mid-2009, Zachrich left his longtime training camp in Cincinnati (Team George Gurgel) to train full-time in Columbus, Ohio, with Joe Heskett, a former four-time All-American wrestler at Iowa State who is now the assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State. Zachrich also continues to hold periodic training sessions with Severn and noted muay thai coach Dorian Price.

“I’ve been lucky enough to train with some of the best in the world and Bellator is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to show the results of that on the world stage,” Zachrich said. “I love the tournament set-up that Bellator has and the middleweight field is really great—there’s not a bad fighter in it. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day. With that said, I wouldn’t be in it if I didn’t think I could win it.”

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or on Facebook at Facebook.com/Bellator. For tickets, go to Ticketmaster.com.

Middleweight standout and "The Ultimate Fighter 7" cast member Luke
Zachrich (9-1) has been added to Bellator's season-two middleweight
tournament, the promotion announced today.

Zachrich, a protégé of UFC Hall of Fame member Dan Severn, is the
seventh confirmed participant for Bellator's eight-man tournament.

He joins Bryan Baker, Jared Hess, Sean Loeffler, Matt Major, Ryan
McGivern, and Eric Schambari in a field that boasts an 84 percent
winning average, according to Bellator.

Fighting for the first time in a year and a half, Falaniko Vitale scored a first-round submission victory over fellow UFC vet Kalib Starnes to claim the Hawaiian-based X-1 World Events middleweight title on Saturday.

Vitale, who hadn't competed since a decision loss to Frank Trigg in October 2008, next fights Murilo "Ninja" Rua at Shine Fights III in May.

Other weekend winners included Jason MacDonald, John Alessio, Ryan Ford, Ricco Rodriguez and Dan Severn. Former UFC fighters Corey Hill and Shonie Carter, though, suffered setbacks.