Veteran mixed martial artist Justin Levens and his wife, Sarah McLean-Levens, were found shot dead yesterday at their home in Southern California.

Authorities investigating the deaths suspect it to be a murder-suicide based on preliminary findings, including no signs of a struggle and a gun recovered at the scene.

The 28-year old Levens was 9-8 in his professional career, which included stints in the IFL, WEC, and UFC. After a promising 6-0 start, Levens struggled, losing 8 of his next 10 bouts including both of his UFC matchups against Evan Tanner and Jorge Santiago. He has not fought since an October 2007 loss to Kenny Ento, but had been scheduled to compete at Affliction “Banned” in July. He was scratched from the card due to time constraints and subsequently tested positive for the banned painkiller oxymorphone.

English heavyweight Neil Grove has inked a four-fight deal with the UFC, according to a report from Fighters Only.

Grove is expected to make his octagon debut at UFC 95 in London, and although an opponent has not been confirmed Grove is eying a matchup with Mostapha Al-Turk, who he was scheduled to fight for the heavyweight title in Cage Rage before the promotion ceased promoting events after it’s parent company, ProElite, closed its doors. An immediate matchup with Al-Turk may be unlikely, however, as he’ll need to get past Cheick Kongo at UFC 92 with next to no damage to be prepared for a February bout.

UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin, in a recent interview with Fanhouse, comments on the upcoming rematch between light heavyweight contenders Wanderlei Silva and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 92 and also expresses his openness to a potential future bout against “The Axe Murderer”.

“I think Wanderlei is a bad man and Wanderlei will get him,” Griffin said. “I’m not great at calling fights but that’s my honest opinion. He’s a good training partner and we’re becoming better friends because his English is getting better. I’ve got nothing bad to say about Wanderlei. He will never get tired of punching you. There’s just no break in him. I think of myself as someone who’s willing to do as much as anyone, but he’s the one guy who might do more. That’s a bad dude. He’s hard to put out. If he was a video game, he’d have no life bar. You’ve got a life bar that goes down but his life bar doesn’t go down. That’s why I like watching him fight. [A fight against Silva] would be great. If it’s for the right money or a belt, I’ll fight anyone.”

Silva, in a recent interview with MMA Weekly, confirmed he too would have “no problem” fighting Griffin.

Light heavyweight Tim Boetsch has re-signed with the UFC, inking a new four-fight deal with the promotion according to MMA Weekly.

A veteran of the IFL, Boetsch made his UFC debut on short notice at UFC 81 in February, dismantling David Heath with strikes in the opening round. Following a TKO loss to Matt Hamill at UFC Fight Night 13 in April, Boetsch rebounded to score a first-round TKO of Mike Patt at UFC 88 in September.

Boetsch will return to action in March again an opponent to-be-determined.

Former UFC light heavyweight champ and current MMA free agent Tito Ortiz appears headed to Affliction.

The promotion has not yet announced the potential signing, but has promoted Ortiz as a “special guest” for a press scheduled for tomorrow in Los Angeles to promote their upcoming “Day of Reckoning” event, which takes place on January 24th in Anaheim.

Up-and-coming heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez will return to the octagon at UFC Fight Night 17 on February 7th in Tampa, Florida against an opponent to-be-announced.

Velasquez revealed the bout in a recent video interview, which is embedded after the jump.

UFC Fight Night 17, which was recently shifted from Las Vegas to the USF Sun Dome on the campus of the University of South Florida, is slated to include Joe Lauzon vs. Hermes Franca, Mac Danzig vs. Josh Neer, Amir Sadollah vs. Nick Catone, and Rob Emerson vs. Kurt Pellegrino.

Despite forfeiting 20-percent of his earnings to opponent Jason MacDonald, middleweight Wilson Gouveia remained the top earner at The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale, earning $36,800 for his first-round technical knockout victory. MacDonald was the second-highest paid fighter on the card, receiving $35,200 for the losing effort.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission today released the official salaries for the event, which took place on Saturday at The Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas and aired live on Spike TV.

All cast members of The Ultimate Fighter 8, including champions Efrain Escudero and Ryan Bader, received $8,000 to show and $8,000 to win.

Junie Browning, Dave Kaplan, Anthony Johnson, and Kryzystof Soszynski each took home $25,000 “Fight Night” bonuses for their performances last night at The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale.

Lightweights Junie Browning and Dave Kaplan were surprisingly awarded “Fight of the Night” for their lopsided main card opener that saw Browning display superior striking, picking apart Kaplan on the feet for the majority of the first round before finishing Kaplan off on the ground in the second with an armbar.