After a 10-year career including 17 UFC fights and the absorption of an incalculable amount of punishment, Martin Kampmann is taking some well deserved time off.
“I enjoy fighting, but I’ve just had my 10-year anniversary as a professional fighter,” he told MMAjunkie Radio. “I feel a little burned out right now. That’s why I’m taking a break. I don’t want to get in there unless I feel like it. I love training, I love fighting, but I want to have the fire again to go in. If I don’t have the fire, then I think that means I need to take a break.”
It’s hardly surprising ‘The Hitman’ needs to take some time off. He made his début in the world’s premier mixed martial arts promotion back in July 2006 and the majority of his contests have either been all-out wars or finished in violent fashion. His last four fights in particular have all been dances of destruction where the great Dane has been handed a beating, even in the pair of fights he won.
He began his 2012 campaign in Australia where he was outstruck and bloodied up for two-and-a-half rounds by Thiago Alves before he snatched a last-gasp submission win. Despite being somewhat shocking and grotesque to the casual observer, the image of a battered, bruised and blood-soaked Kampmann getting up from a successful guillotine, storming around the cage and screaming into the camera in celebration is one of the more endearing images I can remember in the sport.
A similar scene punctuated his fight with Jake Ellenberger. After taking some potentially fight-ending blows in the first round from the granite-fisted American, Kampmann stormed back to knock ‘The Juggernaut’ out with a series of knees that earned him KO-of-the-night honours.
Unfortunately for him, Kampmann’s final fight in 2012 and his only one of 2013 saw even more damage inflicted on him and he could not finish up in the winner’s column. First Johny Hendricks sent him skidding across the octagon with a straight left hand at UFC 154 before Carlos Condit avenged a 2009 loss with a TKO that was the end of four rounds of brutality.
All of that would be enough for most men throughout their entire careers, never mind in four fights. When you factor in the 31-year-old’s other battles with Condit, Marquardt, McFedries, Daley and Sanchez you can see a history of violence been visited upon Denmark’s most successful MMA fighter. It is that damage and his former cavalier attitude to recuperation that has been on Kampmann’s mind in making his sobering decision to spend some time on the sidelines.
“I’ve had my share of concussions, and sometimes I didn’t take the correct amount of time, and that catches up to you,” he said. “I feel OK. I’ve been better, but I feel I want to take a break. That’s why I’m taking a break.”
In a time where blood-and-guts warriors are celebrated without any regards for their safety or long-term consequences on their health, it is encouraging to see such a high-profile fighter take such a step back. What’s more, I can’t see anyone begrudging his decision.
Kampmann is still listed as the #10 welterweight in the UFC even after years in the middleweight and welterweight top-10 rankings. He’s earned his bread with two fight-of-the-night one KO-of-the-night, two-submission-of-the-night and (probably) numerous discretionary bonuses. He lays it all on the line each time he steps into The Octgon and has become a fan favourite. There can’t be many MMA fans who wouldn’t admit they were a Martin Kampmann fan if they’d even seen a handful of his scraps.
For the time being, the Xtreme Couture product has his sights set on coaching and setting up his own gym, but he hasn’t ruled out a return to action in the future. A fact that should please fans even more.
“I’ve had a lot of tough fights, and even the ones I win, I sometimes make them tough for myself,” he said. “I’m just taking a long break. No rush to get back in the cage. Let my body recover and get good. I’m just going to kick back, and whenever I feel like coming back, I’ll come back.”
