Jorge Rivera vs. Nissen Osterneck UFC Fight Night 18 bout confirmed

Jorge Rivera (15-7) will return to the eight-sided cage for the first time in about 10 months when he takes on Octagon newcomer Nissen Osterneck at UFC Fight Night 18: "Condit vs. Kampmann" at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn., on April 1.

"El Conqistador" was supposed to compete sooner after a first round submission loss to Martin Kampmann at UFC 85: "Bedlam" back in June 2008; however, he was blindsided with the sudden and tragic death of his 17-year-old daughter.

Rivera — a UFC veteran who was also a former contestant on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 4 — notched a big knockout win over Kendall Grove at UFC 80: "Rapid Fire" earlier in 2008. He’s also got a technical knockout win over Edwin DeWees and a knockout loss to Terry Martin since his most recent return to the organization.

It’s safe to say that Rivera is consistently inconsistent — he has been unable to string together consecutive wins in eight attempts with the UFC. The good news for him is that he is trending (on paper) to win this next one against Osterneck.

Osterneck is an accomplished grappler, sporting a record of (64-4) on the jiu-jitsu circuit and holds a purple belt under the legendary Relson Gracie.

He’s the Gracie Fighting Championships Evolution champion, the Fight Party Full Throttle 8 champion, the Gracie Proving Ground champion, the International Sport Combat Federation Invasion champion, the four-time South Carolina Grappling Champion, and the 2006 Gracie National Champion, during which he submitted 13 guys in one day to win the title.

In short, his jiu-jitsu is fantastic.

The submission specialist sustained the first loss of his professional mixed martial arts career in his last performance, which was against decorated collegiate wrestling phenom Jake Rosholt under the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) banner. Osterneck was clearly getting the better of the stand up exchanges; however, it appeared that he punched himself out and was out of gas in the second round. Rosholt capitalized and finished him via technical knockout.

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