Martin Kampmann: Engineering a run up the middleweight ladder
By Elliot Worsell Aug-16-2008
A world-class fighter is never born a world-class fighter. The nature and nurture debate can be saved for a rainy day but, on the whole, a fighter is usually a combination of the two. The desire to fight is often planted from an early age and the ability to fight is often learned at a later stage. Many fighters don’t just wave a magic wand and appear with the God-given ability to kick copious amounts of behind.
Denmark’s Martin ‘The Hitman’ Kampmann may seem to be a natural in the art, yet even he had to be swayed from other pursuits.
Starting his pro mixed martial arts career in June 2002, Kampmann was an in-ring engineer. Possessing a steely exterior and an ability to take apart opponents with well-placed strikes, Kampmann was a master of his craft. Yet away from the ring Kampmann was also mastering another craft – proper engineering.
“I did that for a while,” Kampmann says of the engineering degree he studied for at the start of his career. “I had to put that on hold, though. I couldn’t do both 100%. Before I was trying to do both things, the studying and the fighting. I was only really doing both halfway, though. I couldn’t commit 100% to them. After having a couple of fights in the UFC I decided to concentrate on fighting.”
One chance encounter with Kampmann – whether watching him fight or hearing him talk – and you can join up the dots. Talking in a matter-of-fact manner, Kampmann doesn’t mince his words. As much as he’s an expert in striking, middleweight contender Kampmann is an expert in simplicity. The basics. There’s a machine-like quality to Kampmann and the way he goes about breaking down and deconstructing opponents. Performed with a face of stone and vicious kicks as a side order, Kampmann is a 26-year-old merely approaching his fighting prime.
This former Danish Thai boxing champion has evolved from savage striker to slick jiu-jitsu specialist. The time to fight Kampmann was years ago – way back at the start of the evolution process. Nowadays, you’re just a part of the process.
“I’ll take the fight wherever I feel I have an advantage over my opponent,” explains Kampmann, 13-1 in his mixed martial arts career. “If they can be submitted I’ll work hard to get into position and submit them. If they can be beaten in the stand-up I’ll stand with them and beat them there. It all depends on who I’m fighting and what they are specialists at. I try to be an all-round fighter.”
An all-round fighter is pretty much a necessity in today’s mixed martial arts world. It’s a requirement. Most fighters found wanting in one area or another will soon be fished out by those with bigger and smoother arsenals. As far as versatility goes, the vastly-improving Kampmann boasts as much as any. Nevertheless, on September 6, Kampmann’s improved skill set will receive its most demanding test so far in the shape of similarly well-versed middleweight contender Nate Marquardt. It’s a fight that threatens to get this steely, poker-faced fighter a tad animated.
“He’s real tough, a good competitor and is very well-rounded,” admits Martin. “I’m having to prepare in all areas to be able to cope with wherever the fight goes. His strongest point is his ability to fight in all different areas. He’s very well-rounded and can do a bit of everything. He’s one of the best fighters in the UFC and I’m really looking forward to fighting him. I’m always trying to improve my game and there is no better way to do that than by fighting the best guys.”
Press Kampmann for a more revealing insight and you threaten to upset a man programmed to destroy. In this instance, Kampmann, thankfully, obliges.
“I think he might have the advantage on the ground, but I think I’ll be stronger in the standup,” he reveals. “I think Marquardt’s probably the toughest guy I’ve fought so far.”
Kampmann’s assessment isn’t ill-founded. Although Marquardt carries a recent loss to Brazilian Thales Leites – a man Kampmann has already beaten – the nature of Marquardt’s defeat left many still contemplating who the better man was. Two points docked in a fight he appeared to be dominating allowed Marquardt to inconceivably flounder a golden opportunity against Leites. Despite all that, it’s Marquardt and not the victor, Leites, who shares Octagon duty with Kampmann at UFC 88.
“If he (Marquardt) didn’t lose those points he would have won,” says Kampmann. “It was a really good fight. Nate did some illegal moves and I think it’s only right that he got penalized for it. Thales won and he deserved the victory according to the rules, but Nate probably proved he was the better fighter overall.”
Kampmann is as well-positioned as anyone to judge. Having battled tooth-and-nail for three rounds with Leites in November ’06, Kampmann is aware of just what it takes to compete with, let alone beat, the brave Brazilian.
“The fight with Leites was a very tough fight,” he recollects. “He was a good competitor and it was the first pro fight I had that went three rounds. That was something new to me and something I had to overcome. It was a good fight for me to get out of the way.”
Assuming all goes well on September 6, Kampmann will boast the names of two of the leading middleweight contenders on his resume. Throw in first-round wins over Jorge Rivera and Drew McFedries and you have the makings of a future – perhaps even one of the ‘near’ variety – UFC title challenger. Kampmann knows the plot. He expects those kinds of assumptions. Yet he’s having none of it.
“I take one fight at a time,” claims Kampmann. “I don’t want to get into a (title shot) position and then everybody says I don’t deserve it. I’m happy to beat who I’ve got to beat to get my title shot. Jon Fitch deserved his title shot more than any other fighter when he fought GSP, and I want to have the same said about me when I get there. I’m willing to fight whoever the UFC wants me to fight before I get there.”
Cool, calm and calculated, Kampmann’s chilly exterior extends to his Octagon outings. He’s a man on a mission. A man who realizes that mission was oh-so-close to being deemed impossible when, in May 2007, Kampmann blew out his left knee and faced a future of uncertainty. A coming-out night against Rich Franklin at UFC 72 was tossed away as a side-effect and Kampmann sat around wondering where his next paycheck would come from.
“It was a bad injury,” explains Kampmann. “I was very worried about it. I had it reconstructed and replaced and it was some serious sh*t. There was so much doubt in my mind. I had plenty of bad days and days where I felt like sh*t but I just had to hang in there.”
Kampmann wouldn’t fight again until June 2008. At UFC 85, Kampmann returned to submit Jorge Rivera in the opening round.
“I was very happy with that,” he says, almost excitedly. “I’d been out for a long time and was delighted to come back with a win. To get through everything I’d been through and then beat Rivera was amazing. He’s a tough guy and a tough competitor. He’s been in there with a lot of great fighters and it was a good feeling to submit him the way I did.”
The Dane’s one-step-at-a-time approach to mixed martial arts is one born from a history of uncertainty and a natural analytical eye. This isn’t a man who just fights. This isn’t even a man who was necessarily just born to do it. He watches others. He learns. At 26, Kampmann sounds like a guy in his mid-thirties, chock-full of fights, beaten opponents and stories.
“I’m not just a competitor,” he says, “I’m a massive fan of MMA. I love watching the UFC, even when I’m not fighting. I like to watch other fighters and watch things they do, moves they try and stuff like that. Sometimes I’ll look at a fight and watch a guy do a cool move and I’ll head down to the gym and try it out. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t.”
Most of the time it’s worked. Having given up fixing cars to focus full-time on fixing up middleweight opponents, Kampmann isn’t about to settle for the role of spare part in the 185-pound division.
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