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.

RARITAN TWP. | Voorhees senior Mike Hafke and North
Hunterdon junior Jack Delia each had a plan and stuck to it
on Saturday at Hunterdon Central High School, and now they
are Region 5 wrestling champions.
They each earned a trip to next weekends state
championships, along with five other Express-Times area
wrestlers who made it to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City as
state qualifiers the hard way, through the dreaded
wrestle-backs.
Junior Cody Barbiche, freshman Mike Pongracz, and senior
Bobby Stevely of Delaware Valley, and North Hunterdon
Lions sophomore Beau Vrancken, and junior Chris
Cancelliere, were third-place finishers in order to be state
qualifiers.
Hafke (33-2) gained his 100th career win in the semifinals
and went on to capture the 171-pound championship with a
decisive 8-0 decision over top-seeded Brendan Vercammen of
South Brunswick (also 33-2).
Basically, its my plan to get the first
takedown and then stay on top, Hafke said.
While it may be easier said than done, it has produced four
consecutive District 17 titles for him, and now he has
earned a Region 5 crown.
I cant look past anyone, but Im wrestling
with a lot of confidence now, like I can beat anybody,
Hafke said. Getting that 100th win and a spot in the
final took a lot of pressure off me. I still wanted that
championship, but I knew Id made it to Atlantic City
so I just went out there and wrestled my match.
Delia (34-0) went into a fourth overtime period to defeat
Lafayette College-bound Brad Bormann of Hunterdon Central in
a rematch of their District 17 final. Wrestling primarily on
his feet, Delia outlasted Bormann 3-2. In the quarterfinals
and semifinals, Delia won by fall in 1:25 over Chris Rossi
of Hillsborough and in 1:54 over Nadrell McMillan of New
Brunswick.
Delia does not change his style for anybody,
said first-year North Hunterdon coach Tim Flynn. He
has a plan and knows exactly what he has to do to win.
Hes a smart heavyweight.
I had to wrestle well in regions to get to the
states, Delia said. Bormann wrestles me really
hard.
Delaware Valleys three qualifiers won do-or-die bouts
after losing disappointing quarterfinal contests.
Barbiche lost to eventual 103-pound champion Gary Siriday
of Sayreville by a 10-3 score.
In the wrestle-back bracket, he won by fall in 50 seconds
with a barrel roll and cradle over Valerio LaMorte of
Bridgewater-Raritan, and then won the third-place bout by a
4-2 decision over top-seeded Luis Nunez of Perth Amboy.
I wrestled him twice before, Barbiche said of
Nunez. I lost to him last year and this year. This
time I decided to be the aggressor, on my feet, and get that
first takedown to set the pace. But, hes a good
wrestler and I had to weather the storm to get the
win.
Barbiche scored two takedowns to two escapes for Nunez, but
had to defend against several takedown attempts late in the
bout.
Pongracz scored a near fall and then pinned Michael Palomba
of South River in 3:40 with a half-nelson to win his
third-place bout at 112 pounds.
I wrestled him in the grade school states last year
and came back and pinned him with a half-nelson there, so I
knew hed have trouble defending it, Pongracz
explained.
When we had to win, we got aggressive, he said
of his Del Val teammates and himself. Ive
wrestled Cody and Bobby in practice, and theyve showed
me how to use the cradle. He won by 15-0 tech fall in
5:20 in his first wrestle-back bout over Patrick Boyle of
North Hunterdon.
Stevely lost to the eventual 125-pound champion, 26-1 Ray
Delanuez of Edison, in the quarterfinals. He then earned the
third place medal as he toughed out a 5-2 decision over Mike
Pysniak, of Bishop Ahr, and an 8-4 decision over Paul
Kirchner, of Somerville.
We had not too good a day, said third-year
Delaware Valley coach Andy Fitz, but the three lighter
weights brightened it up. They worked very hard, and were
aggressive on their feet, so were taking three to
Atlantic City and two of them are underclassmen. Stevely had
an unfortunate district loss, which gave him a tough region
seeding.
I feel bad for (Kyle) Mesce (who lost 6-2 in overtime
to Beau Vrancken of North Hunterdon in a wrestle-back bout
at 145 pounds). He gave away a match and then lost to
Vrancken, who he had beaten four times. He pinned him twice
and majored him. But, I give Vrancken credit, hes come
a long way and hes dangerous, capable of doing great
things.
After beating his nemesis Mesce, Vrancken captured third
place by fall in 4:09 over Chris Carey of Hunterdon Central.
Beau is a very strong wrestler, said Flynn,
and he wrestled one of his smartest bouts against
Mesce. He took him down and then got away. He gutted it out,
and now hes going to Atlantic City as a
sophomore.
Cancelliere was in the wrestle-backs a year ago at Region 5
and finished fourth. I didnt want that to happen
again, he said. He outpointed Garrett Cuddey of
Spotswood 5-2 in his first wrestle-back and then outlasted
Carlos Rosario 10-8 in overtime to gain third place.
It was a matter of will, as well as technique,
he observed.
In addition to Delia, the following maintained perfect
records in winning Region 5 championships: Outstanding
Wrestler Award winner Alex Shaffer (30-0) of Hunterdon
Central at 119, 35-0 Brian Bistis of host HCHS at 130, 36-0
Micah Blair of Somerville at 145 (he got his 100th career
win in the final), and the workmanlike 34-0 Jerry Somma of
the Red Devils at 160 pounds.
The Red Devils coach, Steve Gibble, was honored for
winning sectional and district titles, with the Region 5
Coach of the Year Award.

Former UFC heavyweight champ Timi Sylvia (25-6) could have up to three fights on his dance card in the near future from March till June. Sylvia may find himself fighting in Japan, Boston, and Canada if all three bouts happen.

Sylvia had been offered a bout with another former UFC champ Josh Barnett in Japan as part of the upcoming DREAM 13 event. Sylvia’s and his manager Monte Cox, turned down the fight and have left the promotion looking for a new opponent. The DREAM 13 event is set to take place on March 22 in Yokohama, Japan.

The Boston Herald published an article stating that Sylvia would face five-time World’s Strongest Man champion Mariusz Pudzianowski in his US debut. With new regulations for mixed martial arts going into effect Monday in Massachusetts, promoters Corey Fischer and Eric “Butterbean” Esch told the Herald that they have teamed up with the Korean-based promotion company, Moosin, to promote the fight between Sylvia and Pudzianowski as it’s headliner. The event is tentatively set for April 23rd at the DCU center in Worcester, Mass.

Recently a rematch between Sylvia and recent “TUF” competitor Wes Sims for an “Adrenaline MMA V” event was turned down by the Ohio Athletic Commission after they deemed the match as “non-competitive.” Since that time the Telegraph-Journal in New Brunswick, Canada reported that this bout could happen on June 5 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada as part of a International Fighting Confederation event.