Martin Kampmann isn’t only giving Georges St-Pierre the edge in his upcoming showdown with Nick Diaz, but he doubts the French Canadian will even break much of a sweat.In a recent interview with MMASucka, the former top 10 welterweight called out Diaz …
Martin Kampmann isn’t only giving Georges St-Pierre the edge in his upcoming showdown with Nick Diaz, but he doubts the French Canadian will even break much of a sweat.
In a recent interview with MMASucka, the former top 10 welterweight called out Diaz and his legitimacy as the No. 1 contender for the UFC title.
“I personally think Carlos Condit got screwed. Nick Diaz has been pretty good at hyping himself up. To be honest, I don’t think Nick Diaz is that good. Anytime he has fought any good wrestlers, he has had problems. I think he’s going to lose badly to GSP,” Kampmann said.
Condit was initially set to face St-Pierre, but Diaz was allowed to leapfrog the former WEC champion in title contention after an impressive performance at UFC 137, where he routed MMA legend BJ Penn.
While Diaz’s performance was part of the reasoning behind him getting the title shot, his bad-boy persona and post-fight antics deserve the bulk of the credit.
“Diaz is good at running his mouth and doing his thing…you know…being a punk. I would love to fight Nick Diaz sooner than later. I would absolutely love to fight him somewhere down the line,” said Kampmann.
A Kampmann and Diaz bout would certainly make for an entertaining style matchup in the future, but as of now, “The Hitman” has his crosshairs set on top 10 welterweight Rick Story.
Coming off back-to-back controversial decision losses to Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez, Kampmann’s back will be against the wall this Saturday night at UFC 139.
Can he rebound and maintain his relevance in the 170-pound division?
Cung Le is widely recognized as a pure martial artist that has transitioned his game to MMA. He’s a blue belt in jiu-jistu and a black belt in Taekwondo. Cung Le has competed in quite a few different martial arts competitions to hone his skills. H…
Cung Le is widely recognized as a pure martial artist that has transitioned his game to MMA. He’s a blue belt in jiu-jistu and a black belt in Taekwondo.
Cung Le has competed in quite a few different martial arts competitions to hone his skills. He competed in kickboxing tournaments, as well as karate and wushu competitions.
His taekwondo striking base have given us highlight reel knockouts and the idea that he is a pure martial artist.
Obviously, the idea of a pure martial artist is based on opinion, so feel free to offer yours. Let’s take a look at few that come to mind…
Let your fists do the talking. The adage seems to have gone by the wayside, as more and more, fighters are finding success by effectively ranting against their opponents. Opponents are not the only targets, though. It could be their countrymen, their c…
Let your fists do the talking.
The adage seems to have gone by the wayside, as more and more, fighters are finding success by effectively ranting against their opponents.
Opponents are not the only targets, though. It could be their countrymen, their camp, their previous opponents, wives or sponsors.
At the sport’s inception and until the last two years, mixed martial artists were closer to their Roman counterparts, the gladiators, than their boxing brethren. They gave somewhat canned interviews and then got into the cage and fought.
Chael Sonnen wasn’t a star; he was just a wrestler who couldn’t defend a triangle.
He’s still that, but now his mouth is a star. And not in a Jenna Jameson sense.
Chael has revitalized his career by being loud. Not just loud, but purposely offensive. Over the top at every opportunity and more a character than an actual fighter. People who had never really watched the sport before were drawn in by his insults to Lance Armstrong and his subsequent denial.
This is still the same man who lost to Demian Maia without being hit by a single damaging strike.
And yet, despite being finished by an injured Silva and being suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, he’s back in title contention after defeating a man with zero discernible grappling ability in Brian Stann.
Nick Diaz was let go from the UFC after three consecutive defeats against wrestlers. One was above average, Diego Sanchez. One was average at best, Joe Riggs, and one was good, but undersized, Sean Sherk. Three straight times, Diaz was taken down, controlled and pounded on for three rounds.
The Stockton Slapfighter has yet to face a wrestler his size and win, to show a change in these glaring deficiencies.
He has made up for this by throwing middle fingers, complaining about his pay scale (despite being paid huge amounts for a non-UFC title holder), and generally spreading vitriol at anyone unfortunate enough to interview him.
He’s now challenging for the UFC Welterweight title.
Simply mentioning the names Josh Koscheck or Brock Lesnarimmediately conjure up the images and sounds of spreading discontent.
These real-life Internet trolls have made a career not out of being the best fighter, but being the best talker. And while I previously would not have cared whether they pulled these shenanigans, it has begun to affect better, harder working fighters who are soft-spoken.
Carlos Condit, who found a bit of fortune after picking up Diaz’s ill-deserved title shot, found himself a victim of bad luck when the champ was injured, and in a worse place after Nick Diaz’s schoolyard antics earned him a crack at Gentleman Georges.
Mark Munoz, after putting on a top-notch performance against Chris Leben, which was hot off the heels of a well deserved victory over former title contender Demian Maia… can’t even smell the gold-and-leather strap as long as the breath from Chael’s rants lingers in the room.
The bottom line: It’s fine when it’s entertainment, but when it starts turning to a necessity to earn a title shot, we need to remind our fighters of their job description:
Heading into UFC 139, welterweight Martin Kampmann is riding a two-fight losing streak, but many actually feel the judges got both of those decisions wrong. Based on a recent interview with MMASucka, don’t expect “The Hitman” to give either Diego…
Heading into UFC 139, welterweight Martin Kampmann is riding a two-fight losing streak, but many actually feel the judges got both of those decisions wrong.
Based on a recent interview with MMASucka, don’t expect “The Hitman” to give either Diego Sanchez or Jake Shields too much credit anytime soon.
Kampmann got straight to the point regarding his controversial UFC on Versus 3 loss to Diego Sanchez:
“With the Diego fight I made mistakes, but I still beat him. His face was a wreck afterwards and he still has the scars to prove it,” the Xtreme Couture fighter said.
“I definitely believe I won that fight and I got the better of him. I would love to avenge any one of those two losses because I think I’m the better fighter and I can beat any of those guys,” he added.
Speaking of the split decision loss to Jake Shields at UFC 121, a performance that many felt was one of the worst of Shields career, Kampmann had no problem knocking the Cesar Gracie black belt’s grappling-heavy style:
“For the most part wrestlers take people down and lay on them. That is how I lost to Jake Shields. I was kneeing Jake in the face and in the body. I had a solid submission attempt with a choke. He landed one punch on me in that entire fight and he didn’t once try to submit me,” Kampmann recalled.
“He won the fight by getting on top of me and humping my leg. I think the current scoring system favors wrestlers too much. You can punch a guy ten times in the face, but if he takes you down and cuddles with you, they give the round to that guy. It is what it is,” he also said.
Kampmann also said that he “gave that victory away by fighting a bad fight,” giving Shields essentially no credit for the highly debatable win.
The only UFC fighter to defeat Carlos Condit also weighed in on the current welterweight title picture, giving Nick Diaz absolutely no chance against reigning 170-pound king Georges St-Pierre.
“I personally think Carlos Condit got screwed. Nick Diaz has been pretty good at hyping himself up. To be honest, I don’t think Diaz is that good,” Kampmann said very frankly.
“Anytime he has fought any good wrestlers he has had problems. I think he’s going to lose badly to GSP. Diaz is good at running his mouth and doing his thing…you know…being a punk,” he stated.
“I would love to fight Nick Diaz sooner than later. I would absolutely love to fight him somewhere down the line.”
Strong words from The Hitman, a guy who is usually pretty mild-mannered in his interviews.
As expected, Kampmann also discussed his upcoming bout with Rick Story.
“I’d love to make it a more technical striking match, but I don’t think that is what he is going to do. I think he is going to want to come in close. I think that is his strength; he’s a strong dude who wants to come in swinging,” Kampmann indicated.
“He might get clipped, but when he’s in the pocket like that he’s dangerous. From a distance though I will be able to pick him apart,” he remarked.
Despite Story having a marked wrestling advantage, Kampmann has no fear of being taken down in this fight.
“He tries to take his opponents to the ground a lot. He is a wrestler by nature. I’m sure he is going to try and take the fight to the ground, but I’m prepared for that,” Kampmann said.
“I’m totally ready to counter or stuff the takedown. If it does go to the ground I’m very confident in my Jiu-jitsu skills too.”
UFC 139 takes place at the HP Pavilion Center in San Jose, California, where Story vs. Kampmann is the fourth fight on the main card.
“Yes he Cain!”After being stopped by Junior Dos Santos in just 64 seconds at UFC on FOX, the general consensus surrounding the future of former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is that he will be back.UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre …
“Yes he Cain!”
After being stopped by Junior Dos Santos in just 64 seconds at UFC on FOX, the general consensus surrounding the future of former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is that he will be back.
UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre took to Facebook on Monday to give his thoughts on the fight and what it feels like to be on the wrong end of a massive haymaker.
“Great fight on Saturday. I know how Cain Velasquez feels – I’ve gotten hit with a punch like that before and it totally throws you off,” St-Pierre posted.
Dos Santos blasted Velasquez early in the first round of the championship bout with a thunderous overhand right. He then followed up with a couple of ground punches to put an end to Velasquez’s title reign and undefeated streak.
Unfortunately, some people have yet to grasp the incredibly small margin for error allowed in MMA.
All it takes is the tiniest mistake for any fighter to suffer the bitter taste of defeat. St-Pierre can certainly relate to Velasquez in that retrospect.
In April 2007, St-Pierre was defeated by Matt Serra in perhaps the biggest upset in MMA history. Serra dropped the French Canadian with a hard punch in the first round during wild exchanges and brought about the shocking conclusion with a barrage of ground strikes.
After the loss, St-Pierre righted his wrongs, returned to form and reclaimed the UFC title a year later.
As a top heavyweight in the world, Dos Santos deserves the victory and the UFC title, but fans should be mindful about the way things went down.
A punch doesn’t get much better than the one Dos Santos landed on Velasquez. It was placed and timed to perfection.
There was an aura of disappointment surrounding the bout because fans felt like they never actually got to see the two heavyweights fight.
The future is bright for Velasquez and Dos Santos, and this probably won’t be the last time we see them do battle.
People get caught in this sport. It happened to Velasquez, and the same thing could just as easily happen to Dos Santos. This is what makes the sport so exciting for fans and tough for fighters.
Add Josh Koscheck’s name to the long list of people who isn’t giving Nick Diaz much of a shot against UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.The former title contender took to Twitter recently to give his thoughts on the highly-anticipated champio…
Add Josh Koscheck’s name to the long list of people who isn’t giving Nick Diaz much of a shot against UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.
The former title contender took to Twitter recently to give his thoughts on the highly-anticipated championship bout.
“Nick D has no chance with GSP, can’t fight wrestlers. Look at his history with them. That’s why he got booted the 1st time,” Koscheck posted. “I hope Nick D wins but I don’t think he can. GSP by wrestling.”
Koscheck knows a thing or two about what St-Pierre brings to the table. He has lost two unanimous decisions to the French Canadian, with the most recent coming in their lopsided title bout in December 2010 at UFC 124.
Some may disagree, but Koscheck makes great points about Diaz’s tendency to struggle against world-class wrestlers.
When dissecting Diaz’s record, he really hasn’t faced anyone fitting that description since Sean Sherk, whom he lost a unanimous decision to in April 2006.
Is the Cesar Gracie student prepared to fend off St-Pierre’s takedowns?
Apparently, Koscheck isn’t alone in his skepticism of Diaz’s chances.
Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes and former two-division champion B.J. Penn both like St-Pierre over the ever-controversial Nick Diaz.
“I think it’s going to be very, very tough for Nick Diaz to defend Georges St-Pierre’s takedowns, and if Georges St-Pierre wants to turn this into a takedown type fight, I think he’s definitely going to have an advantage,” Penn said in an interview at “Pro Elite: Big Guns” with HDNet’s Michael Schiavello.
Before Diaz’s removal from the originally slated championship bout at UFC 137, Hughes was also leaning in the direction of his former rival.
“Against Diaz, I think [GSP] is going to do real good. This will be the first time he’s going to face someone that will be in better shape than he is. Diaz is in great shape, and that’ll be the only thing I think Diaz will have an edge on, but GSP is not going to wear out,” said Hughes in a Q&A session for fans at UFC 132.
“Striking, submissions and groundwork…I think he’s going to win everyone of those. I see GSP winning.”
Martin Kampmann isn’t only giving Georges St-Pierre the edge in his upcoming showdown with Nick Diaz, but he doubts the French Canadian will even break much of a sweat.