UFC Fight Night 18 officially announced for Nashville on April 1; Condit vs. Kampmann to headline

Officials with the UFC and Spike TV officially announced on Tuesday the previously reported April 1 date for UFC Fight Night 18. The event will emanate from the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee and will be headlined by World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight champion Carlos Condit making his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann.

Condit had been scheduled to defend his WEC title against Brock Larson on March 1 in Corpus Christi, Texas but was pulled off the card due to a reported wrist injury. His return to the cage has been pushed back a month, as his contract has been transferred from the UFC to the WEC.

The Albuquerque, New Mexico resident is 22-4 overall in a pro MMA career that began in 2002. Since joining the WEC, he is 5-0 with notable victories over Larson, Hiromitsu Miura, Carlo Prater, and John Alessio. Outside of the promotion, the 24-year old holds notable victories over Frank Trigg, Renato Verissimo, Takuya Wada, and Koji Oshi.

Kampmann, 14-2, a former Thai boxing champion hailing from Denmark, won his first four bouts in the Octagon as a middleweight before suffering a TKO loss to Nathan Marquardt at UFC 88 last September.

After dropping down in weight class to 170 pounds, Kampamann defeated Alexandre Barros via TKO in January at UFC 93. Fighting out of Las Vegas with Xtreme Couture, Kampmann will look to improve to 2-0 as a welterweight when he faces Condit.

In addition to Condit vs. Kampmann, other matchups officially announced include TUF 8 light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader vs. Carmelo Marrero; TUF 8 lightweight champ Efrain Escudero vs. a yet to be confirmed opponent; and TUF 8 alum Junie Browning vs. TUF 5 alum Cole Miller.

The two-hour Spike TV telecast will serve as a lead-in for the premiere of the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter. Featuring a team of eight fighters from the U.S. taking on eight fighters from the U.K., TUF 9 will showcase prospects in both the lightweight and middleweight divisions.