Kampmann

A Twist of Fate - Martin Kampmann was originally scheduled to face former UFC Middleweight champion Rich Franklin at UFC 72, but while training for the fight Kampmann completely blew out his left knee. Then, during his comeback attempt, Kampmann re-injured the knee and was forced to have a second surgery. With the knee as healthy as it can be, “The Hitman” is ready to start hitting some people.

Most professional athletes don’t fully recover from major knee surgery, let alone two on the same knee.  When asked about the condition of his knee, Kampmann exclusively told 5thRound.com, “it’ll be good for fighting, I’m hoping it’ll be as good as before.”

“The complications I’m having now are still more from the first one [surgery],” Kampmann added. “The second one was just a minor correction of the first one if you can say that,” Kampmann explained.

After missing out on significant training time, it is possible that “Octagon rust” could set in, as he hasn’t had a fight in over 13 months. But you would never be able to tell based on his performance at  UFC 85, where he choked out Jorge Rivera via guillotine.  Kampmann’s fight prior to this was a submission victory over highly touted striker Drew McFedries at UFC 68.

For a guy known as “The Hitman,” and has world class Muay-Thai ability, strangely enough 10 of his wins via submission and only 6 by knockout.

“I didn’t come up with that name myself. It was a Danish MMA reporter that came up with that nickname because he always thought I was kind of cool and professional in the ring or in the cage, wherever. He came up with it and I don’t know, it kind of stuck from there. Then I decided well I might as well use it because since everybody else is using that nickname as well.”

Kampmann is still trying to get over the fact that he lost an opportunity to go up against a guy like Franklin, but he did admit that he, “was very disappointed. Very disappointed,” that he was unable to take the fight that Yushin Okami eventually lost. To be so close to a title shot and have it taken away is tough for any competitor.

He has not lost a fight in nearly four years and has rolled off six consecutive victories in the UFC.  Don’t worry Martin, something tells me that you are a lot closer than you think. Knee willing.

(Picture Courtesy of UFC.com)