One-time middleweight title contender David Loiseau will return to the Octagon for the first time in more than two years when he meets Ed Herman at UFC 97 “Redemption” on April 18 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The UFC announced the pairing this week, along with several others.

The 29-year-old Loiseau (18-8) will ride a three-fight winning streak into UFC 97. He stopped Solomon Hutcherson on fifth-round knees to capture the vacant XMMA middleweight crown in September. A longtime friend of UFC welterweight king Georges St. Pierre, Loiseau owns victories against the late Evan Tanner and UFC veterans Mark Weir, Charles McCarthy and Gideon Ray. He has not been finished in almost five years.

Spawned by season three of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Herman (14-7) has lost two in a row, including a split decision defeat to Alan Belcher at UFC Fight Night 15 in September. The inconsistent 28-year-old Team Quest product last tasted victory in November 2007 when he flattened Joe Doerksen at UFC 78. Herman, a former Sportfight champion, has never been knocked out.

Meanwhile, former World Extreme Cagefighting light heavyweight champion Brian Stann will make his promotional debut against Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 97.

Stann (6-1) has not appeared since he relinquished his WEC belt in a technical knockout loss to Steve Cantwell at WEC 35 in August. The 28-year-old Marine christened his professional career with six consecutive first-round stoppages, two of which came in less than a minute. Now training out of Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas, Stann has yet to go the distance in a fight.

The 31-year-old Soszynski (16-8-1), an International Fight League veteran and semi-finalist on season eight of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, will carry a decided experience edge into the bout. The former TKO heavyweight champion has rattled off four straight victories since his 13-second technical knockout loss to Ben Rothwell in 2007. Based out of Team Quest, Soszynski last fought in December, when he submitted Shane Primm with a second-round kimura at “The Ultimate Fighter 8” Finale.

Other bouts booked for UFC 97 include a middleweight matchup pairing Nate Quarry with Jason MacDonald and a lightweight fight between Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts Mark Bocek and David Bielkheden.

A middleweight title match between champion and pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva and Thales Leites will headline UFC 97, along with a light heavyweight showdown pairing one-time titleholder Chuck Liddell and 2005 Pride middleweight grand prix winner Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Correction: This story originally identified Chuck Liddell as a two-time UFC champion. Liddell, in fact, has had only one title reign.