UFC light heavyweight fighter Stephan Bonnar’s quest to defeat southpaw fighter Krzysztof Soszynski continues this Saturday at UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin and Bonnar thinks the fight will be similar to the first time. Well not exactly similar, in that a accidental headbutt opened a cut that ended the bout for Bonnar at UFC 110, which then saw the judges awarding the bout to Soszynski. Bonner seems ready for the rematch as he spoke of how he thought things would go down, via UFC.com:

“I’ve watched the first fight a bunch of times, and I definitely see the rematch being something similar. I did pretty well the first couple of minutes, and felt I got off to a solid enough start. I think my hands and defence could have been a little better as the fight went on, though. I got a little sloppy in places, and allowed Krzysztof to get off with some shots. I need to move my head a bit more in the rematch and not be static so much and in range of punches. I’m aiming to not get hit quite so much by his power-punches this time around. Preparing to face an opponent I’ve already fought is definitely a positive, as I’m already familiar with Krzysztof’s style and know what he’s all about. I’ve already spent nearly three rounds in his company, so I have a good idea of what he can and can’t do by this stage. I’m not going in there blind.”

UFC 116 will feature a heavyweight title matchup between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin and will also feature Chris Leben taking over for injured Wanderlei Silva as he faces Sexyama.

Heavyweight Championship bout: Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin
Middleweight bout: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben
Welterweight bout: Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown
Light Heavyweight bout: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar
Lightweight bout: George Sotiropoulos vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Middleweight bout: Kendall Grove vs. Goran Reljic
Middleweight bout: Gerald Harris vs. Dave Branch
Welterweight bout: Daniel Roberts vs. Forrest Petz
Heavyweight bout: Jon Madsen vs. Karlos Vemola

UFC middleweight fighter Gerrald Harris (15-2) finally has an opponent for UFC 116.

Harris was previously named to the event without an opponent will now face Renzo Gracie fighter Dave Branch (6-0) on the unbroadcasted preliminary card.

UFC 116 will take place on July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. and will be headlined by a UFC heavyweight unification title bout between champ Brock Lesnar vs. interim champ Shane Carwin.

Harris has won his last nine fights including his past two UFC bouts against Mario Miranda and John Salter. This will be his first UFC pay-per-view fight as his wins over Miranda and Salter took place at UFC Fight Night events.

The “TUF 7″ cast member has won 7 victories via T(KO) and 5 by submission. He also earned the “Knockout of the Night” bonus against Salter at UFN 20 after earning the TKO win in the third round.

Undefeated Renzo Gracie fighter, Branch, has yet to lose and carries a 6-0 record into the octagon when he makes his UFC debut against Harris. None of his six opponents have been able to carry the fight into the third round, with Branch earning 3 submission and 3 T(KO) victories.

HT: MMAWeekly.com

Undefeated middleweight Dave Branch has become the latest veteran of Bellator Fighting Champinships to ink with the UFC.

Sporting a record of 6-0 with nothing but finishes on his resume, Branch has fought under the Bellator banner on two separate occassions and most recently stopped Derrick Mehman via rear naked choke at Bellator 15.

The UFC recently announced that Branch would be making his Octagon debut against Gerald Harris at UFC 116 on July 3.

UFC 116 will take place from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Harris is a veteran of the seventh installment of The Ultimate Fighter with a career record of 15-2. He is currently riding a nine-fight win streak with back-to-back knockout stoppages in the UFC.

Two-time Bellator Fighting Championships veteran Dave Branch, who signed with the UFC in May, now has his first opponent.

The UFC announced late Friday night that the Renzo Gracie product will be
welcomed to the octagon by fellow middleweight Gerald Harris at UFC 116.

MMAjunkie.com first reported Harris' involvement
with the July event, though "Hurricane" had been waiting on an
opponent to be named.

Undefeated middleweight fighter and two-time Bellator Fighting Championships competitor Dave Branch has signed a four-fight deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

His coach, current UFC fighter Renzo Gracie, announced the news today.

MMAjunkie.com could not immediately reach Gracie or his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt for information on his promotional debut.

Tonight’s Bellator Fighting Championship 15 will go down at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. featuring four more tournament bouts which include three first round welterweight fights and one first round featherweight tilt.

The preliminary bouts began at 7pm EST (4pm PST) with the main card airing live on FOX Sports Net (which may be delayed in certain areas by local sports programming) with highlights airing on Saturday on NBC, Telemundo and mun2.

One of the main bouts of the event sees tournament welterweights Dan Hornbuckle (19-3) and Tyler Stinson (16-5) square off the quarterfinals of Bellator’s welterweight tournament. The winner will move onto the semifinals and join Ben Askren who moved on after his victory at last weeks Bellator 14 event.

The full live quick results and matchups for Bellator 15 after the jump.

Main Card

- Steve Carl def. Brett Cooper via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 28-29) (moves on to welterweight semi-finals)
- Dan Hornbuckle def. Tyler Stinson via submission (triangle choke)- R1, 2:03 (moves on to welterweight semi-finals)
- Ryan Thomas def. Jacob McClintock via TKO – R1, 4:11 (moves on to welterweight semi-finals)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire def. William Romero via submission (heel hook) – R1, 2:01 (moves on to featherweight semi-finals)

Preliminary Card

- Dave Branch defeated Derrick Mehman via submission (rear naked choke) – R2, 0:26 (190 pound catchweight bout)

- Ryan Quinn defeated Matt Lee via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-27)
- Dan Cramer def. Dennis Olson by unanimous decision (30,27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Rich de los Reyes def. Brylan Van Artsdalen via submission (rear-naked-choke) – R2, 2:03

Hornbuckle sinks in the triangle choke on Stinson in the welterweight quarter-finals. (photo courtesy of Bellator Fighting Championship)

Bellator/Zack Lynch

CHICAGO, Ill. (April 21, 2010) — On the eve of Bellator Fighting Championships’ much-anticipated show at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., all 16 fighters competing in tomorrow’s event participated in an official weigh-in earlier this evening.
 
Bellator 15 will be broadcast live in prime time nationwide on Thursday on FOX Sports Net and during special Bellator highlight shows this Saturday night on NBC, Telemundo and mun2.
 
The card’s Main Event (see attached photo) is a matchup in Bellator’s ongoing eight man-welterweight tournament featuring rising MMA superstar Dan Hornbuckle (19-3) and Tyler Stinson (16-5), the winner of Bellator’s recent open tryout in Kansas City.
 
The official results of the weigh-in are as follows:
 
Main Card:
 
Dan Hornbuckle (170 lbs.) versus Tyler Stinson (170 lbs.) – at 170 lbs.
 
Brett Cooper (169 lbs.) versus Steve Carl (169.5 lbs.) – at 170 lbs.
 
William Romero (145 lbs.) versus Patricio Pitbull (144.75) – at 145 lbs.
 
Jacob McClintock (170 lbs.) versus Ryan Thomas (167.5 lbs.) – at 170 lbs.
                                                                                     
 
Local Feature Fight Card:
 
Derrick Mehman (191.75) versus Dave Branch (189.5 lbs.) – at 190 lbs.
 
Matt Lee (170.25 lbs.) versus Ryan Quinn (169.75 lbs.) – at 185 lbs.
 
Dennis Olson (184.75 lbs.) versus Dan Cramer (184.25 lbs.) – at 185 lbs.
 
Brylan Van Artsdalen (143.75 lbs.) versus Rich de los Reyes (145 lbs.) – at 145 lbs.

The weigh-ins for Thursday’s Bellator Fighting Championships 15 event were completed on Wednesday evening with all 16 fighters making weight for their perspective matches.

The Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. hosted the weigh-ins for the event and will also host Thursday nights action. The main card of the event will air live on FOX Sports Net (which may be delayed in certain areas by local sports programming) with highlights airing on Saturday on NBC, Telemundo and mun2.

Headlining the shows main event will be tournament welterweights Dan Hornbuckle (19-3) and Tyler Stinson (16-5) who face each other in the quarterfinals of the welterweight tournament. The winner will move onto the semifinals and join Ben Askren who moved on after his victory at last weeks Bellator 14 event.

The full weigh-ins and matchups for Bellator XV are as follows:

Main Card:

-Dan Hornbuckle (170) vs. Tyler Stinson (170) – welterweight quarterfinal bout
-Brett Cooper (169) vs. Steve Carl (169.5) – welterweight quarterfinal bout
-William Romero (145) vs. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (144.75) – featherweight quarterfinal bout
-Jacob McClintock (170) vs. Ryan Thomas (167.5) – welterweight quarterfinal bout

Preliminary Card:

-Derrick Mehman (191.75) vs. Dave Branch (189.5)*
-Matt Lee (170.25) vs. Ryan Quinn (169.75)
-Dennis Olson (184.75) vs. Dan Cramer (184.25)
-Brylan Van Artsdalen (143.75) vs. Rich de los Reyes (145)

*190-pound catchweight bout