Stephen Thompson Meets Matt Brown at UFC 145 in Atlanta

Matt Brown (James Law/HeavyMMA)

Welterweights slated for April 21 fight

It won’t be a home fight, but it won’t be far away, either. Stephen Thompson has been added to the UFC 145 card in Atlanta, fighting Matt Brown in a welterweight bout.

Just a week after one UFC official told HeavyMMA the promotion hoped to get Thompson, from nearby South Carolina, on the card, the fight has been made. The Greenville (S.C.) News was first to report the bout. Thompson’s home base of Simpsonville, S.C., is about 150 miles from Atlanta.

UFC 145 is slated for April 21 at the Philips Arena with a main event light heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and former champ Rashad Evans.

Thompson (6-0, 1-0 UFC) brought his unbeaten and renowned kickboxing record of 56-0 – with 40 knockouts – into his UFC debut last week at UFC 143 in Las Vegas. He opened the preliminary card with a head-kick knockout of Daniel Stittgen in the first round, winning a $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus in the process.

Brown (13-11, 6-5 UFC) is also coming off a win at UFC 143 last week. Brown, a Season 7 contestant on “The Ultimate Fighter,” beat Chris Cope with a second-round TKO to get back in the win column after a submission loss to Seth Baczynski at UFC 139 in November. That gives Brown two wins in his last three fights after a three-fight skid, all by submission. Nine of Brown’s 11 career losses have come by submission, but he has never been knocked out – Thompson’s speciality.