Martin Kampmann vs. Jorge Rivera at UFC 85 Announced

By Dann Stupp, originally posted on mmajunkie on Mar 04, 2008 at 8:56 am in

- News -

On the one-year anniversary of the fighter's last bout in the UFC, Martin Kampmann's camp has confirmed that the Dane (15-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) will meet Jorge Rivera (15-6 MMA, 4-4 UFC) at UFC 85 in London.

Kampmann's manager, Ken Pavia, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that bout agreements have not been signed but that the fight has been accepted by both fighters. The fight was first reported on Monday by Sherdog.com Radio.

UFC 85 takes place June 7 at the 02 Arena in England. Chuck Liddell meets Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in the night's main event.

Kampmann had emerged as a middleweight contender before suffering a serious knee injury while training for a UFC 72 main-event fight with Rich Franklin. Prior to the injury, Kampmann submitted Crafton Wallace at UFC Fight Night 6, earned a unanimous decision over Thales Leites at UFC Fight Night 4, and submitted Drew McFedries at UFC 68.

"I was going for a takedown, and the guy just kind of fell on my knee," Kampmann told MMAjunkie.com in a recent interview. "It was real bad luck. My knee popped out and hyper-extended the wrong way. I tore my ACL and MCL, and I tore my meniscus as well. It was major surgery.

"I went back a couple months later (for a second surgery); it was a chip or something in there. There wasn't a second injury. It was just a scope. It was minor. They just had to clean it up. It was nothing compared to the first one. It was no big deal with the second one."

During the interview, Kampmann said he expected to be training at 100 percent by mid-March.

He'll try to extend his current eight-fight winning streak against UFC vetean Rivera, a cast member from "The Ultimate Fighter 4" who scored an upset of Kendall Grove in his most recent fight. The 36-year-old fighter stopped Grove with an 80-second knockout via punches at UFC 80.

The victory pushed Rivera's UFC record to 4-4, which has included victories over Edwin Dewees, Dennis Hallman and David Loiseau.

For all the latest fight cards, including UFC 85, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.