Martin Kampmann Interview

Originally posted on AroundTheOctagon.com

Just over a month removed from his Ultimate Fight Night 18 victory, Martin Kampmann sat down with ATO and allowed us a closer look into his life and career. Welterweights, be on notice. Martin Kampmann is healthy and ready to fight!

Thanks for taking time to sit down and talk with us, Martin. Can you tell us what you’ve got going on right now?
Yeah no problem, I don’t mind at all. I’m back in training. I took some time off after my last fight, but I’m back at it now. I’m getting my cardio back and everything is starting to feel good again.

Have you been contacted about any possible fight opportunities?
No not really. I want to fight though. I had told them (UFC) I wanted to fight in the summer, but they are booked up till September already. So, I guess I might have wait. It sucks because I really wanted to go home to Denmark for a vacation. I wanted to fight this summer and then go home, ya know? I don’t want to go to Denmark now and then get a call to come back. Hopefully someone will drop out of something and I can just be here ready and I can get a spot on one of these cards coming up. I’ll be back in there soon though.

Not a lot is known about your early career. It seems like you just popped up on the radar one day and made an impact on the sport here in the U.S. Can you tell us about your career prior to the UFC?
I fought a lot of fights in Europe before I got over here. I paid my dues over there for sure. I did all the small shows like the guys do here. I fought in small shows in Denmark, Sweden and Russia. But, I came over here on vacation and ended up being offered a fight on short notice. I went ahead and took it and sometime after that show I was offered a shot with the UFC, so, it was kind of “right place at the right time” but I earned it.

Back in ‘07, you were scheduled to face Rich Franklin. The winner was said to be getting a shot at Silva’s title. Your severe injury while training for that fight was unfortunate and took you out of the sport for a while. Do you ever wonder what could have been, had the injury not happened or are you a “everything happens for a reason” type person?
Man I sure hope everything happens for a reason (laughing), cause it sucked! Honestly, it was one of the worst times in my life. It was a terrible injury but I wasn’t gonna make it worse by thinking about the opportunity I missed.

You hear athletes all the time talk about how bad performances combined with a loss haunt them and they replay it over and over again in their head. How often does the Marquardt fight run through your mind?

Man I try not to think about it that much because it gets me depressed, but I do. I think about it. It sucks and I hate it. There is nothing I can do about it, though, so I have had to try and move on. Fighters know that every time they step into the cage that there is a chance you might lose, so eventually you have to learn to deal with it. I want to win all my fights, but there is always the risk of loosing and a huge part of this sport is learning to deal with a loss and bouncing back from it. Some guys never do. But you know, I should have done better in that fight and I could have done better in that fight and I hope I see him again someday. Maybe an opportunity will arise one day where I can and we can do it again.

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