The UFC confirmed on Wednesday two previously rumored fights for UFC 116 in July. Kurt Pellegrino will fight George Sotiropoulos and Daniel Roberts will take on Julio Paulino.
Pellegrino (15-4) has won four consecutive fights since losing to Nate Diaz in April 2008. He’s won unanimous decision fights over Thiago Tavares and Josh Neer and submission victories over Rob Emerson and Fabricio Camoes.
Sotiropoulos (12-2) is coming off the biggest win of his career. He won a unanimous decision over Joe Stevenson in February that won Fight of the Night honors at UFC 110. Sotiropoulos has won all five of his fights for the UFC, including three since dropping down to the lightweight division last August.
The two are expected to meet on the televised portion of the UFC 116 pay-per-view, with the winner taking one step closer to a title shot down the road.
Roberts and Paulino are both coming off of losses. Roberts (9-1) lost for the first time in his professional career when he was knocked out by John Howard at the UFC’s first event on the Versus network in March. Fighting on the same card, Paulino (17-3) lost his Octagon debut to Mike Pierce via unanimous decision.
The main event of UFC 116 will be the heavyweight unification bout between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.
