Kampmann ready to move forward against Condit

By Andy Samuelson

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 | midnight

Having been so close to this point before, Martin Kampmann knows these opportunities are precious few.

So when the 26-year-old takes to the Octagon tonight against Carlos Condit in the main event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first foray into Tennessee at Fight Night 18, he says to expect a fighter living in the moment.

“There’s gonna be a few nerves. But when you get in the cage, that’s the time to get it done,” Kampmann said. “You don’t have time to think about where you came from.”

If he did though, Kampmann would have a lot to reflect on.

Unlike most young male visitors who pay homage to Las Vegas while on vacation looking for as much fun as possible in a short stay, the Denmark native came to the city in the summer of 2006 on a mission.

“I came to Las Vegas looking for some serious action,” Kampmann said. “Luckily, I was able to hook up with some quality people that helped me get into some good fights.”

Indeed, “The Hitman” hooked up with fighters like Forrest Griffin, Jay Hieron and Mike Pyle, and before the end of the summer he had landed a fight with the UFC.

Kampmann, who had already established a 9-1 record in mixed martial arts before joining the promotion, celebrated a victorious debut, submitting Crafton Wallace in the first round.

He was hooked. The engineering student went back to Europe, decided to drop the books and instead booked his second fight — a match against Thales Leites.

Kampmann won again, handing Leites his only loss to date via unanimous decision during “The Ultimate Fighter” Season No. 4 finale in November 2006.

After another easy win over Andrew McFedries, Kampmann was moving up to the big time. Next up was a bout against Rich Franklin, who had just lost his middleweight title.

Life was looking bright for the decorated striker … then boom. Kampmann tore ligaments in his knee. The setback sent him back to Denmark for a year’s worth of rehab.

“It was the toughest situation,” he said.

But even after rehab, the clouds weren’t completely gone.

Kampmann bounced back with another first-round victory in his first bout since the injury in June 2008. Three months later he was again in prime position to make a big push in the UFC with a fight against Nate Marquardt.

Instead, he suffered a crushing defeat. Marquardt not only handed him his first loss in the UFC, but the first-round TKO had Kampmann second-guessing himself.

“I was obviously very disappointed,” Kampmann said. “I wasn’t used to that, but I knew I couldn’t quit.”

So again he bounced back, this time dropping down from 185 pounds to 170.

He beat Alexandre Barros by second-round TKO at UFC 93 in Ireland. But tonight, Kampmann (14-2) once again has another huge test before him.

The 24-year-old Condit (22-4) — the last World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight champion before the organization decided to disband its larger weight classes — has won eight consecutive fights, and doesn’t plan on losing in his UFC debut.

“I think this is a natural progression for my career and I definitely feel ready,” Condit said.

“As far as an opponent, Kampmann’s very, very tough. He’s got a lot of experience. He’s done very well in the UFC. He has very well-rounded abilities.”

The six-foot Kampmann sees plenty of similarities between himself and the slightly taller (6-2) Condit.

“I think we match up real well against each other and I think it should be a fast-paced explosive fight,” he said.

And one he hopes will finally be a step in the right direction.

“I can only move forward,” Kampmann said.