Martin Kampmann vs. Jorge Rivera Added To London Lineup [UFC 85]
Middleweight contender Martin Kampmann, sidelined for more than a year due to a knee injury, will return to the octagon on June 7 in London to take on Jorge Rivera at “UFC 85: Liddell vs. Evans”.
Kampmann (20-2, 3-0 UFC) emerged as a prospect in the depleted middleweight division following three-straight UFC victories over Crafton Wallace, Thales Leites, and Drew McFedries and was booked to face Rich Franklin in the main event of UFC 72. While training for the bout, Kampmann suffered a serious knee injury that required major knee surgery and was forced to withdraw from the number-one contender fight. More than a year after the injury, Kampmann will now look to pick up where he left off and rise to the top of the 185-pound division currently reigned by Anderson Silva.
Rivera (15-6, 4-4 UFC) has had very mixed success inside the octagon. After a debut win against David Loiseau, Rivera was defeated in back-to-back UFC fights against Lee Murray and Rich Franklin. Stringing together a 4-1 record outside of the UFC, he returned to the promotion and defeated Dennis Hallman before losing to Chris Leben at UFC Fight Night 3. He then appeared on the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter and was eliminated from the reality competition by Patrick Cote before posting a TKO victory over Edwin DeWees on the season 4 finale. Following a knockout loss to Terry Martin at UFC 67 in early-2007, Rivera defeated Kendall Grove via round 1 TKO at UFC 80 earlier this year.
“UFC 85: Liddell vs. Evans” takes place on June 7th at the 02 Arena in London, England. In a main event clash of light heavyweight championship hopefuls, former champion Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell faces”Sugar” Rashad Evans in a bout to determine a potential title contender. In a key battle of heavyweight hopefuls, Brandon Vera will look to get back on track against Fabricio Werdum.
For more on UFC 85 check out the MMAFrenzy.com rumors section.
Tags: Jorge Rivera, Martin Kampmann
Loading ...
finally martin is making his comeback good figh should be a main card fight
I agree Martins a great fighter I was worried we wouldn’t see him again after he cancelled his fight with Franklin
im more interested in werdum and vera. i think this will be a good match up and a close one to call. if kampmann can string a few wins together it wont take much to get his shot against silva but rivera if on top of his game isnt an easy fight.
I’m glad Kampmann’s back! All of his fights are usually really exciting. I hope the long lay off doesn’t effect him to bad. A lot of times when fighters come back from long lay offs, they’re normally a little gun shy and do not perform that well. I guess we will find out soon if that happens to Kampmann or not.