Newly signed Aaron Simpson will face Josh Burkman at the upcoming World Series of Fighting 2 card on March 23.
The promotion confirmed that matchup, along with several other additions, on Wednesday morning.
Simpson (12-4) had a tenure of over four years with Zuffa, competing 11 times with a 7-4 record under the UFC banner. While he had mainly competed as a middleweight, he dropped down to 170 last July, splitting two fights. In his most recent, an October fight against Mike Pierce, he suffered a second-round knockout, a defeat that ultimately sent him out of the promotion.
His opponent Burkman also had a prior run in the UFC, which ended in late 2008. Since then, Burkman has gone 6-1 and is currently enjoying a three-fight win streak. Overall, he boasts a record of 24-9.
The Simpson-Burkman fight will be contested at welterweight.
WSOF 2 also added a middleweight bout between David Branch and Paulo Filho, a lightweight fight pitting Gesias “J.Z.” Cavalcante against Justin Gaethje, and prelim fights matching Waylon Lowe against Cameron Dollar and Rick Gleen against Alexandre Pimental.
Igor Gracie, Danillo Villefort, and Ozzy Dugulubgov will also take part in the card, though all three are still awaiting opponents.
The card will emanate from Ovation Hall at Revel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and will air on NBC Sports Network as part of a newly signed three-year deal. It features a main event of Andrei Arlovski vs. Anthony Johnson and a co-headliner featuring Tyson Nam against Marlon Moraes.