It is Sunday night, so that means it is time for your weekly MMA on TV update.

Here is a look at the MMA content that will be airing this week:

– On Wednesday, the sixth episode of The Ultimate Fighter will air on SpikeTV at 9 p.m. ET. Team Lesnar got back on track with a win last week and now the final two prelim fights will take place and then Dana White will announce the wild card entrants. Also, Team dos Santos continues to have dissention between the coaches.

– On Friday, Tachi Palace Fights 9 will stream live on Sherdog.com at 8:30 p.m. ET. The show will take place from the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif. The event will be headlined by a flyweight contest between Ian McCall (9-2) and Dustin Ortiz (7-0). Other competitors on the card include former UFC fighters Efrain Escudero (15-2) and Gerald Harris (17-4).

– On Saturday, Bellator 43 takes place from the First Council Casino in Newkirk, Oklahoma. The card is still being pieced together, but the main event is the Season 4 Welterweight Tournament Final between Jay Hieron (21-4) and Rick Hawn (11-0). The event airs on MTV2 at 9 p.m. ET.

It is Sunday night, so that means it is time for your weekly MMA on TV update.

Here is a look at the MMA content that will be airing this week:

– On Wednesday, the fourth episode of The Ultimate Fighter will air on SpikeTV at 9 p.m. ET. Team dos Santos took a 2-1 edge in the prelims last week and regained control of the fight picks. This week, Lesnar brings in fellow wrestler Matt Hughes to work with his team.

– On Thursday at midnight (so to some that is Wednesday night) UFC 129 Primetime airs its second of three episodes. The show is following Jake Shields and Georges St. Pierre as they prepare for their UFC 129 welterweight championship showdown on April 30. The second episode airs on SpikeTV and will be replayed at 1:30 a.m. and 11 p.m.

– On Saturday, Bellator 42 takes place from the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Okla. The show will air live on MTV2 at 9 p.m. ET. This event features a main event of heavyweight champion Cole Konrad taking on former UFC heavyweight contender, Paul Buentello. The fight will be a non-title contest. The light heavyweight tournament semifinals will also take place as Tim Carpenter faces off with Christian M’Pumbu and Richard Hale squares off against D.J. Linderman.

Gilbert Melendez believes he is the top lightweight in all of MMA.

At 19-2, he has a case to argue.

Following his first round TKO win over Tatsuya Kawajiri last Saturday, the Strikeforce Lightweight Champion stated “I think it’s time to unify some titles. I’m the No. 1 lightweight in the world. Let’s get it done.”

Melendez has looked better with each fight, but the question for him is competition. His two losses have been decisions to Josh Thomson and Mitsuhiro Ishida, but he avenged both defeats later in his career.

Melendez shows great striking skills and underrated grappling ability and he has been pushed for 25 minutes on more than one occasion.

While Melendez believes he has accomplished more than top UFC lightweights Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, I have to disagree.

Edgar defeated B.J. Penn twice, something only Georges St. Pierre has accomplished. Maynard has been around for a shorter period of time, but is undefeated and beaten top opponents like Kenny Florian, Edgar, Jim Miller, and Melendez’ teammate Nate Diaz.

Melendez’ argument is similar to that of Eddie Alvarez, the Bellator Lightweight Champion. Alvarez has been on a nice run, but because he doesn’t fight in the UFC, he arguably doesn’t get as much respect nationally as he deserves.

Melendez has more of a case as he has fought tougher opponents, but until he steps into the UFC octagon, there will always be that doubt that he can contend at the highest level.

As always on Sunday evening, I will post your MMA TV schedule for the week so you can stay up to date on all things MMA.

Here is a look at the MMA content that will be airing this week:

– On Wednesday, the third episode of The Ultimate Fighter will air on SpikeTV at 9 p.m. ET. The teams are tied at 1-1 but it appears as if both teams have some dissension this week as Brock Lesnar gets into his team and Junior dos Santos has some disagreements with one of his assistants.

– On Thursday at midnight (so to some that is Wednesday night) UFC 129 Primetime debuts. This three-part series will follow Georges St. Pierre and Jake Shields as they prepare for their UFC welterweight championship fight on April 30. The show airs on SpikeTV and will be replayed at 1:30 a.m. and 11 p.m.

– On Saturday, Bellator 41 takes place from Cocopah Resort and Casino in Yuma, Arizona. The show will air live on MTV2 at 9 p.m. ET. The event features a pair of champions competing in non-title fights as bantamweight title holder Zach Makovsky takes on Chad Robichaux and featherweight champion Joe Warren faces off with Marcos Galvao. The Featherweight Tournament semifinals also will take place with Daniel Straus facing Kenny Foster and Wilson Reis taking on Patricio Freire.

Lost in the shadows of Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley Saturday night was a pretty eventful weekend in the MMA community.

Here are a few things I think you should know about:

-Saturday night, Bellator 40 took place and rising MMA star, Ben Askren, remained undefeated with a unanimous decision win over Nick Thompson in the main event. The two-time NCAA champion continued to show dominant wrestling form against Thompson, who was helpless against Askren’s takedown ability. Askren changed levels, worked in some striking, and had the cardio to dominate for 15 minutes. Askren is now 8-0 and, if he continues to develop his striking, he can be a real force in the national picture. In other bouts, Jay Hieron picked up a decision win over Brent Weedman to advance to the finals of the Bellator Welterweight Tournament, where he will face unbeaten Rick Hawn. In the Bellator Lightweight Tournament, Michael Chandler won a decision over Lloyd Woodard to advance to the tournament final against Patricky Freire.

-On Friday night, MFC 29 took place on HDNet and UFC veterans Marcus Davis, Hermes Franca, and Pete Spratt each picked up wins. Davis won a split decision over Curtis Demarce in his first fight after being cut by the UFC. Franca knocked out Robert Washington just 26 seconds into the second round, giving him two straight wins. Spratt pulled off an armbar submission in the second round of his fight against Demi Deeds. The win ended a two-fight losing streak for Spratt.

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