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 (3-0 UFC) emerged as a prospect in the depleted middleweight division following three-straight UFC victories over Crafton Wallace, Thalles Leite, and Andrew McFedries and was booked to face Rich Franklin in the main event of UFC 72: Victory. 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 (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: Ultimate 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: All or Nothing in early - 2007, Rivera defeated Kendall Grove via round 1 TKO at UFC 80: Rapid Fire 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.

Source: www.ufcdaily.com