Fans can watch today’s “UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin” weigh-ins live on Spike TV starting at 7:00 PM EST (4:00 PM PST). The event features a UFC heavyweight unification, as well as the number one world heavyweight ranking, between current champ Brock Lesnar and interim champ Shane Carwin. The co-main event sees Japanese mma star Yoshihiro Akiyama taking on Chris Leben, who steps in with just two weeks since his last bout.

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.

“UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin” event card:

Main card

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

Preliminary card (Spike TV)

Heavyweight bout: Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer
Light Heavyweight bout: Seth Petruzelli vs. Ricardo Romero

Preliminary card

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

HT: UFC.com

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.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department arrested mma veteran Mike Whitehead (24-7) on Wednesday, charging the one time “TUF” 2 fighter with sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, and open and gross lewdness. Additional charges are pending concerning a marijuana grow op that was discovered at Whitehead’s residence.

The charges stem from a reported assault filed by an adult female last Saturday naming Whitehead as a suspect in a sexual assault. Detectives from the LVPD Investigative Services Division obtained a search warrant for the fighters home and discovered a marijuana grow op in the house.

No bail has been set while Whitehead sits at the Clark County Detention Center.

Whitehead is probably best known for his time on “The Ultimate Fighter 2″ and had a poor performance on the reality TV series. He subsequently lost to Keith Jardine at UFC 57 and was released by the promotion, rattling off a 13 fight win streak.

He’s gone 2-2 in his past four bouts, losing to Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in his last fight at last December’s “Strikeforce: Evolution” event.

*Pictured: Mike Whitehead courtesy of the LVPD.

Josh Burkman made another successful step on the comeback trail and also bested a rival this past weekend at a Showdown Fights event in Utah.

Burkman, a cast member on "The Ultimate Fighter 2" who earned his UFC termination after a 10-fight stint with the promotion, earned a unanimous-decision win over former training partner Jake Paul.

The event took place April 10 at the McKay Events Center in Orem, Utah.

"The Ultimate Fighter 2" veteran Josh Burkman gave a lot of thought to the preparation needed for a fight. He gave little thought to what happened afterward.

More than a year after suffering a litany of fight-related injuries, the 29-year-old fighter continues on his comeback trail tonight when he faces Jake Paul at "Showdown" at the McKay Events Center in Orem in his home state of Utah.

And while Burkman's ultimate goal is to return to the UFC, he's not going to call matchmaker Joe Silva before he feels confident fighting the best in the world.

Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran and former UFC welterweight contender Josh Burkman is a guest on today's edition of MMAjunkie.com Radio.

Burkman, a cast member on "The Ultimate Fighter 2," recently returned from a 13-month layoff due to injuries and picked up a win over fellow UFC vet Brandon Melendez at a Showdown Fights event. He returns to the Utah-based promotion on Friday for a headlining fight with Jake Paul.

MMAjunkie.com Radio begins at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino's Race & Sports Book. Listen to and watch a video stream of the two-hour show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio.