Romero will carry a five-fight winning streak into his Octagon debut. Based at the AMA Fight Club in New Jersey, the 32-year-old last appeared at Ring of Combat 27 in November, when he submitted Silmar Rodrigo with a first-round keylock. Romero has secured nine of his 10 career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission, finishing six opponents inside the first round. He suffered his lone defeat in September 2008, when he was disqualified for an illegal soccer kick against Glen Sandull.
In two UFC appearances, Petruzelli has yet to achieve victory. The 30-year-old has not competed inside the Octagon since submitting to a guillotine choke from American Top Team’s Wilson Gouveia more than three years ago. Petruzelli has stopped four consecutive opponents in the first round and needed just 67 seconds to submit Ryan White with an armbar under the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts banner in May. He remains best known for his nationally televised 14-second TKO victory against Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson at EliteXC “Heat” in October 2008.
UFC 116 will be headlined by a blockbuster heavyweight title unification match between returning champion Brock Lesnar and undefeated interim titleholder Shane Carwin, along with a middleweight duel pairing Brazilian icon Wanderlei Silva with the world-ranked Yoshihiro Akiyama.
UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin
Saturday, July 3
MGM Grand Garden Arena
Las Vegas
UFC Heavyweight Championship
Brock
Lesnar vs. Shane
Carwin
Wanderlei
Silva vs. Yoshihiro
Akiyama
Chris
Lytle vs. Matt
Brown
Stephan
Bonnar vs. Krzysztof
Soszynski
George
Sotiropoulos vs. Kurt
Pellegrino
Brendan
Schaub vs. Chris
Tuchscherer
Kendall
Grove vs. Goran
Reljic
Gerald
Harris vs. Dave
Branch
Daniel
Roberts vs. Julio
Paulino
Ricardo
Romero vs. Seth
Petruzelli
Jon
Madsen vs. Karlos
Vemola