KAMPMANN DECISIONS CONDIT AT ‘ULTIMATE FIGHT NIGHT’

Though he conducted himself like a true gentleman in advance of his ‘Ultimate Fight Night’ battle with Carlos Condit, Martin Kampmann likely got sick of playing ‘second banana’ to his better known opponent.  With most of the prefight hype by the UFC focusing on Condit, Kampmann gave his opponent all he wanted in Nashville, TN on Wednesday night and emerged with a hard fought split decision victory.

While wagering lines had this fight as a near ‘pick’em’ affair, the bulk of the prefight publicity focused on Condit.  Condit gained a reputation as one of the most exciting fighters in the sport during his reign as WEC welterweight champion, and was quickly pegged as a top contender to champ Georges St. Pierre when Zuffa combined the weight class for their two promotions.    Kampmann was viewed by many as something of a ‘tune up’ fight for Condit on his way to ‘bigger and better things’.

From the opening horn, however, it became apparent that Kampmann was up to the test.  Kampmann controlled the action early, getting a takedown and almost ending the fight midway through the first round with a nasty guillotine choke.  Condit managed to extricate himself, and responded with a takedown of his own only to have Kampmann reverse it and score effectively with some hard strikes on the ground.

A hotly contested second round saw both men score takedowns and work for submissions.  Kampmann tried another guillotine choke, and Condit briefly had his opponent’s back and worked for a rear naked choke though was unable to complete the maneuver.   Kampmann also scored with some solid punches from the standup position, though overall it was probably the most even round of the fight.

Kampmann took the fight in the final five minutes as he controlled the action on the ground.  He didn’t inflict as much damage as earlier in the bout, but completely controlled the pace and style of the fight.  He spent most of the round mauling Condit on the ground as the former WEC champ could do little more than look for submission attempts from his back.  He tried a leglock and a kimura at various points, but Kampmann saw them and quickly negated their potential damage.

The split decision victory for Kampmann underscored the highly competitive nature of the bout, with all three judges giving 29-28 scores—two for Kampmann, one for Condit.  Ultimately, Kampmann deserved the victory due to his success at negating Condit’s explosive power striking game and turning much of the bout into a ground based ‘war of attrition’.