Fellow New Englanders and rising stars in the UFC® lightweight division, The Ultimate Fighter® alumni Kenny “Ken Flo” Florian and Joe “J-Lau” Lauzon will meet each other where the Ultimate Fighting Championship® all began, and headline the first UFC fight in the state of Colorado in thirteen years live on Spike TV Wednesday, April 2 at 8:00 PM ET/PT.

UFC Fight Night will also feature a light heavyweight bout between light heavyweight contenders and fellow alumni of The Ultimate Fighter, Stephan “The American Psycho” Bonnar and Matt “The Hammer” Hamill. The live fight card will take place at the Broomfield Events Center just outside the mile-high city of Denver in Broomfield , Colorado .

“We are excited to have fight in the state where the UFC first started, and even more excited that fans will be able to watch it on Spike TV,” said UFC President Dana White .

Boston native Kenny Florian (9-3) made his UFC debut on Season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter making it to the finals before losing to Diego Sanchez. The 31-year old Florian used the sting of defeat as ample motivation to take his mixed martial arts training to another level, and he has dropped just one fight since, an epic five-round battle against Sean Sherk for the vacant UFC lightweight title at UFC 64 in October of 2006. Florian has rebounded by posting impressive victories over Dokonjonosuke Mishima, Alvin Robinson, and Din Thomas since then, and is hoping to continue his string of dominance in the division and earn another shot at the lightweight championship.

Standing in Florian’s way is fellow New Englander Joe Lauzon (14-3), a 23-year old who burst onto the scene with a thrilling TKO upset of Jens Pulver in his UFC debut at UFC 63. Lauzon gained national recognition as a member of Team Penn on Season 5 of The Ultimate Fighter last year, and the East Bridgewater native has kept training with Penn since the show’s end, notching impressive submission wins against Brandon Melendez at The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale and the previously undefeated Jason Reinhardt at UFC 78. In Florian, Lauzon will face his toughest task to date, and a win would further cement his place in the upper echelon of the extremely competitive lightweight division.

In the night’s co-feature, The Ultimate Fighter alumni and rising light heavyweights Stephan Bonnar (Season 1) and Matt Hamill (Season 3) will square off in a classic match-up of striker vs. grappler. Bonnar (11-4), a native of Munster, Indiana now training in Las Vegas, has won his last two fights at UFC 73 and UFC 77, exhibiting a lethal jiu jitsu game to go along with his renown striking ability. His improved ground game will be put to the test against Hamill, a world class wrestling talent whose ground and pound style resulted in three straight wins upon entering the UFC before dropping a controversial decision against Michael Bisping at UFC 75. The bout is a pivotal matchup for both men in a loaded light heavyweight division.