Exclusive Interview with UFC middleweight Martin Kampmann

Originally Posted on 5thround.com

Tim Ngo: What have you been up to since, I know you’ve been rehabbing your knee you’re coming off of two knee surgeries right?

Martin Kampmann: That’s correct, same knee though.

TN: Is it the same injury that reoccurred or is it something else?

MK: It’s the same injury. The first injury was really a major surgery, the second one was kind of a minor thing compared to the first one. The complications I’m having now are still more from the first one. The second one was just a minor correction of the first one if you can say that.

TN: A lot of professional athletes, they aren’t the same after having knee surgery. Do you think that mentally you’ll be able to get past that and still have the same confidence that you had?

MK: I certainly hope so, it’s hard to tell because I’m still having some complications with my knee. But hopefully it’ll be good for fighting, I’m hoping it’ll be as good as before. I just wish it’d be good enough for fighting you know? That’s my main thing.

TN: How disappointed were you that you had to pull out of the fight against Rich Franklin? Rich Franklin’s a huge name in the UFC.

MK: Yeah, I was very disappointed. Very disappointed, it’s been a tough couple of months after that surgery and after the injury for sure. It was a really big pickup journey for me and I was very disappointed to have to let it go [Franklin fight].

TN: What was your gameplan heading into that fight for Rich Franklin?

MK: I wanted to mix it up you know. Stand up and takedown. I think he’s a really good fight, I think he’s really good all-around. He’s not really great at one thing, he’s just real good at everything. So I think I would try to mix it up you know, stand up and takedowns as well.

TN: Do you feel that your injury has put you to the back of the line towards Anderson’s Silva’s Middleweight title?

MK: I don’t know, it might have. It doesn’t really concern me that much. What bothers me the most is just I want to get my knee back in shape and get back in there and fight. I don’t care too much about how many fights I have to win to get back into title contention. I just want to be able to fight, that’s my primary concern right now. You know, I want to get my knee well and get in there and fight. How many fights it takes to me get there doesn’t concern me at all, I’ll take as many as I can. As long as I’m good to fight, I’ll be happy.

TN: Your nickname’s “The Hitman”, but it’s funny because you have 9 victories by submission and only 6 by knockout. Is there something that we don’t know?

MK: Uh, I don’t know. 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.

TN: What’s it like training at Xtreme Couture? You have a lot of talent there, and it all starts at the top with Randy Couture.

MK: Oh it’s great. We have a real great team, great facilities at Xtreme Couture and a lot of great sparring partners. I don’t even know where to begin, so many great guys to work with [Mike] Pyle, Jay Hieron, yeah everybody there. And Randy of course, there’s so many great guys to work with so it’s awesome definitely.

TN: Do you have any main coaches there or you just kind of train with everybody?

MK: Oh, I train with everybody. We have a lot of different coaches there, we got Shawn Tompkins for [Muay] Thai boxing, Ron [Frazier] for boxing and Chris. There’s a lot of different coaches, I try to work with everybody and get as much knowledge, and gain as much from everybody that I can.

TN: From the fighters that we’ve spoken to, they don’t really follow MMA that much when their not involved. How involved do you stay when you don’t have a fight coming up?

MK: Oh, I like to watch the fights, I like to watch all the fights. I don’t watch all the smaller shows, but I like to watch and try to get to see all the UFC shows you know, see what’s happening. I think it’s great fun to train but I also think it’s a great sport to watch, so I love watching it.

TN: Once again Martin, I would love to thank you for spending some time with us, 5thRound.com. Is there anything you want to say to your fans, sponsors or anything like that before we let you go?

MK: Thanks for the support you know and keep watching the sport. Cheer for me next time, I’ll be back soon, as soon as possible I hope. I can’t wait, that’s for sure.

TN: Do you have a timetable right now, in terms of when you might come back?

MK: Um, I don’t have any fights lined up yet. I’m still working on my knee, but I’m aiming at maybe April. That’s my goal but you know, you gotta have a goal. We’ll see though.

For more information on Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann, please visit: www.MartinKampmann.tv.