UFC welterweight Martin Kampmann isn’t dwelling on his loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC 154 last year, but he is certainly itching to get back in the cage to wash out the bad taste of defeat from his mouth. Kampmann lost to his former training partner in…
UFC welterweight Martin Kampmann isn’t dwelling on his loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC 154 last year, but he is certainly itching to get back in the cage to wash out the bad taste of defeat from his mouth.
Kampmann lost to his former training partner in the first round last November. Since that time, he’s been healing and making sure that his body is fit and ready when he gets back in action. The timeline for his return has been delayed, however, due to a lingering problem with his knee that has haunted him for a couple of years now.
Following his win over Jake Ellenberger last year, Kampmann opted to have some corrective knee surgery. But now two months into 2013, he’s still having issues, so he’s awaiting his leg to fully heal before booking another fight.
“I’d love to fight soon, but I want to get my knee healthy, I want to get my knee strong,” Kampmann told Bleacher Report over the weekend while attending the Arnold Classic in Columbus, OH. “I had surgery on it last summer, but it’s still been bugging me. It’s annoying, I guess cut it off and get a new leg or something, but it will be better. Hopefully, I’ll get a fight lined up by summer. I don’t want to be on the sideline for too long and get back in there hopefully against a big named opponent.”
Realistically, Kampmann knows he’s coming off a loss and won’t get a title shot, or likely even one of the top contenders who win at UFC 158 in just a couple of weeks.
So why not target the fighter who doesn’t come away with the belt in the main event between current welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and challenger Nick Diaz?
“There’s a lot of tough fights coming up. A lot of good fights in March. I’m not going to get to fight for the title so maybe I can fight the guy that comes up short, Nick Diaz or GSP,” Kampmann stated. “Whoever loses that fight, I’d love to fight. I’d prefer to fight the winner, but I know that’s not going to happen so maybe I can get the loser of that fight.”
UFC matchmaker Joe Silva typically likes to match up fighters coming off of wins with other fighters who have recently been victorious and the same with competitors fresh off of a loss. Kampmann‘s theory plays well into whom he’s hoping to fight next, and with his projected return date during the summer, it could be a fight the UFC would look to book no matter who comes out on top at UFC 158.
Kampmann believes, like a lot of fighters do, that Georges St-Pierre will come out on top in his fight against Diaz, but no matter who wins, he’ll happily challenge the other guy.
“I think GSP‘s going to beat Diaz, so maybe fight Nick Diaz. If Diaz pulls it off, I’d be happy to fight GSP as well,” said Kampmann.
Kampmann‘s sole focus now is to get his knee healthy so he can return to action later this year as close to full health as possible and get back on track towards his ultimate goal of earning a UFC title shot.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.
Over the past few days, we’ve witnessed a pair of rarely seen finishes in the octagon — a suplex KO and a flying reverse triangle — and after we here at CagePotato collectively picked our jaws up off the floor and found a clean pair of shorts, we got to thinking, what other techniques/finishes do we rarely come across in the MMA stratosphere? And more importantly, which of these techniques/finishes have we not devoted some sort of gif or video tribute to already?
Taking all of those factors into account, we came to the standing TKO, a finish so uncommon in MMA that we could only name a handful of occurrences before having to resort to the Interwebs for assistance. So in honor of the iron-jawed sumbitches who wouldn’t bow to defeat even when it was kneeing/punching/kicking them damn near to death, we’ve placed our favorite examples of this phenomenon below. Check ’em out after the jump and let us know which stoppages you thought were warranted and which ones could have gone on a little longer.
Over the past few days, we’ve witnessed a pair of rarely seen finishes in the octagon — a suplex KO and a flying reverse triangle — and after we here at CagePotato collectively picked our jaws up off the floor and found a clean pair of shorts, we got to thinking, what other techniques/finishes do we rarely come across in the MMA stratosphere? And more importantly, which of these techniques/finishes have we not devoted some sort of gif or video tribute to already?
Taking all of those factors into account, we came to the standing TKO, a finish so uncommon in MMA that we could only name a handful of occurrences before having to resort to the Interwebs for assistance. So in honor of the iron-jawed sumbitches who wouldn’t bow to defeat even when it was kneeing/punching/kicking them damn near to death, we’ve placed our favorite examples of this phenomenon below. Check ‘em out after the jump and let us know which stoppages you thought were warranted and which ones could have gone on a little longer.
It’s time to take a trip to the Octagon once again as we take a look at the massive five hour’s worth of MMA action at UFC 154, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on ESPN here in Britain. We start with the two hour pr…
It’s time to take a trip to the Octagon once again as we take a look at the massive five hour’s worth of MMA action at UFC 154, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on ESPN here in Britain.
We start with the two hour prelims show, beginning with action from the featherweight division between Antonio Carvalho and Rodrigo Damm.
While this fight may not have been to everyone’s liking, it certainly proved to be an interesting battle.
Despite the fact that these two were known for their ground skills, they decided to put on a three-round striking battle, with each man having varying degrees of success.
Carvalho did a good job in targeting Damm’s lead leg with a series of hard kicks, and by the time the first-round ended the injured limb began to swell considerably. Damm never tried to check the kicks, taking the full force of the blow each and every time.
While he may have suffered some more damage to his legs Damm’s striking caused some damage of it’s own, bloodying Carvalho’s nose in the second round. His combinations looked clean and crisp, although the injury to his lead leg clearly hampered him somewhat.
There wasn’t much ground work to speak of in this one, and with no finish in sight the judges were called into action as Carvalho took the split decision.
Then it was up to the lightweight division as Sam Stout went up against John Makdessi.
These two guys were certainly a lot busier than the last two guys, especially Makdessi, who put on a great striking display over the three-rounds. His left jab was a thing of beauty and caught Stout off guard every time it connected. His leg kicks weren’t too bad either.
Stout did okay, but he wasn’t a patch on his fellow Canadian, and when he went for a few takedownsMakdessi defended against these with relative ease. It really was great to watch, especially when Makdessi upped his game even further towards the end of the third.
Once again the decision was left in the hands of the judges, with Makdessi taking the unanimous decision.
The light heavyweights were up next as Cyrille Diabate took on Chad Griggs.
Griggs began this one swinging for the fences as he tried to turn the fight into a brawl, but a quick left from Diabate soon sent him down to the canvas.
What followed looked absolutely frantic at times. Diabate took side control and connected with a series of elbows that bloodied Griggs’ nose, and from there the action went back and forth until Diabate took Griggs’ back and locked in a rear naked choke for the submission win.
And is it me or does Diabate look like a young Richie Havens?
Filler material followed as Ivan Menjivar took on AzamatGashimov in the bantamweight division.
This was good. After a brief feeling out period Gashimov took the fight to the ground, but when Menjivar went for an armbar the debuting Russian managed to survive.
After taking a couple of up-kicks Gashimov went back to work in the guard, looking pretty good. It wasn’t long before Menjivar went on the attack though, and from out of nowhere he went for a second armbar. Gashimov tried to slam his way out but it wasn’t long before Menjivar cranked in the hold, the Russian having no choice but to tap to give Menjivar the submission win.
A technical problem meant that we did get that fight’s official announcement. We also had to put up with several segments from the British version of Pardon the Interruption. I swear that Steve Bunce always looks like he’s on the verge of a heart attack.
Thankfully normal service resumed in time for the final preliminary fight between Patrick Cote and AlessioSakara in the middleweight division.
We certainly had an eventful fight with this one. After a brief feeling out period Cote went to work, and with his hometown fans cheering him on he rocked Sakara with a series of great blows.
But the transplanted Italian quickly made his comeback, rocking Cote with a series of elbows against the cage. As Cote slumped to the ground Sakara connected with a few hammer fists as the referee stepped in to stop the action.
Then it became apparent to everyone that most of those blows connected to the back of Cote’s head, which meant that the referee had no choice but to disqualify Sakara, an example of how a few moments of madness can ruin what could have been a great win.
The main show began in the featherweight division as Mark Hominick faced Pablo Garza.
To say that this was a great way to open the main show would be an understatement. These two went at it right from the beginning of the first round, and this brought on some frantic back and forth exchanges, the best coming towards the end of the round when a left to the body from Hominick rocked Garza. But Garza quickly came back with a big right that opened up a cut underneath the Canadian’s eye.
Garza went on to dominate the fight from the second round onwards. His ground and pound in the second-round looked brutal as he turned his man’s face into a bloody mess. Hominick had a few good moments on the ground, mainly when he went for some submissions, but Garza’s work was just too much for him.
The judges were called into action for the first time on the main show, and it came as no surprise when Garza took the unanimous decision.
Then it was back to lightweight as Mark Bocek took on Rafael Dos Anjos.
This was pretty much a one-sided affair. For three rounds Dos Anjos dominated the action in every department.
Bocek’s tactics were obvious from the beginning, but whenever he went for a takedown Dos Anjos managed to defend these with ease, and with the Canadian looking fatigued at the start of the second round Dos Anjos upped his game even further to take control.
Bocek’s only meaningful form of offence came with an inadvertent low kick early in the second, but as soon as he’d recovered Dos Anjos put on a show. His striking turned Bocek’s face into a bloody mess, and his ground work looked impeccable.
In fact the only thing missing from his performance was a finish, which meant more work for the judges as they gave Dos Anjos everything in their unanimous decision.
More middleweight action followed as Francis Carmont went up against Tom Lawlor.
Out of all of the three-rounders on the main show this one was the most even.
Both fights had success in every department. Lawlor’s tactic was to try and take Carmont down. He failed to do this after several clinches against the cage, with Carmont looking for a standing kimura a couple of times.
Carmont’s striking looked good. His kicks looked great, and he used his height and reach advantage to good effect while trying to gauge the distance.
Lawlor’s best moments came at the end of the first and second-rounds when he went for a couple of guillotines. But something about the way he tried to apply those chokes didn’t quite look right, and Carmont was able to escape on both occasions.
So with both fighters basically cancelling each other out it went down to the judges again as Carmont took the split decision.
The co-main event featured welterweight action as Martin Kampmann faced Johny Hendricks.
This was one of those encounters where the introductions lasted longer than the actual fight. Kampmann began with a couple of kicks, but it wasn’t long before Hendricks went looking for the big power shot, a big left sending Kampmann crashing to the ground. The referee quickly stepped in to give Hendricks the knockout win after just 46 seconds.
The main event saw Georges St-Pierre taking on Carlos Condit for the undisputed Welterweight title.
This was a war, and for the first time in ages we had a main event that actually had that big fight atmosphere.
For five-rounds these two put on a tremendous spectacle. GSP looked like he hadn’t been injured at all. There were no signs of Octagon rust as he sought to cement his legacy.
Everything he did in the offensive department just looked good, from his striking to his takedowns to his ground work, and it was a sign of how he was going when he opened up a cut above Condit’s eye with a hard elbow in the first-round.
Condit looked good, but his problem was that he met a GSP who was on fire. The former WEC Champion did have one chance to extinguish that fire though when a head kick sent GSP crashing to the canvas in the third round.
Condit followed him down, and for a few brief moments it looked as if he was going to achieve the impossible with some well placed ground and pound shots. But GSP managed to recover enough to continue his great work, even though he was not showing the scares, or rather the bumps, of battle himself.
So what we had was an outstanding contest worth the price of admission alone. There was just one thing missing, and that was a finish, which meant that the judges were called into action for the final time as GSP took the unanimous decision to unify the titles.
In conclusion—let’s break this down into two segments.
Beginning with the prelims, once again I’m more than pleased that ESPN put their hands into their pockets and paid out a little more so we Brits who don’t want to sit in front of our computers can see the action. The two hour segment gave us the chance to see some great and at times controversial action, with Cyrille Diabate’s submission win over Chad Griggs the highlight for me.
The main show surpassed all of that though. Johny Hendrick’s one punch demolition of Martin Kampmann was definitely a highlight reel moment, but all of the great performances here were surpassed by the tremendous main event.
Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit put on a fight for the ages as GSP cemented his place as the top welterweight in the history of the UFC. I truly believe that it’s either going to take some genetically engineered Superman or a really special talent to knock him off his perch. Part of me wonders if that man will be Anderson Silva, but I get the feeling that if those two ever met it will be in a catchweight encounter with no titles on the line.
As for my fight of the night, do I really need to tell you what that is?
So with the five hour marathon (spread over two nights) over there’s just one more thing to do and that’s to give UFC 154 the big thumbs up.
Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com. It’s been online in one form or another for over 12 years now!
UFC 154 wasn’t the first time I’ve attended a UFC event. It wasn’t even the first time I’ve attended one at the Bell Centre. (That would be UFC 113, when Mauricio “Shogun” Rua emphatically put an end to the Machida Era.) But with Georges St. Pierre fighting — returning from a serious knee injury, no less — this card was a special experience. Not to say it didn’t have its flaws — the decisions got to be a bit much after a while, Alessio Sakara managed to get himself disqualified, and Tom Lawlor managed to get himself robbed. Still, the atmosphere of the crowd, Johny Hendricks’ knockout of Martin Kampmann and the finale, in which St. Pierre withstood the most adversity he’s faced in years, more than made up for it.
I was seated a few rows above the exit ramp, where the fighters made their way backstage following their fights. It provided me a great view of the action, the fighters as they walked by, and Dan Hardy’s mohawk. Hardy was in attendance, and made frequent trips back and forth between cageside and backstage. So, consider it official: Dan Hardy pees a lot. Maybe. Also seen frequenting the backstage area were Brittney Palmer and Arianny Celeste, both of whom are (quickly) escorted out after the third round commences in each fight, and Bruce Buffer, who was rather short. I also managed to catch Ben Fowlkes walking down towards cageside and yelled after him, but whether my voice was lost in the din of the crowd or Fowlkes is just terrified of being associated with CagePotato yet again, I cannot say. (It’s definitely the latter.)
The Canadian crowd was pretty solid throughout. They’re not quite as partisan as the Brazilian crowds, but damn if they don’t cheer their fighters on — even if they don’t know who those fighters are. I suspect no one there knew who Ontario’s own Antonio Carvalho was. (I also suspect I was part of this group.) They occasionally boo too early, but in general they seemed fairly knowledgeable. Unfortunately, that generalization did not apply to the group sitting directly behind me, who complained that Chad Griggs was matched up unfairly with Cyrille Diabate — he was, but not because he was “tiny” — and were under the impression that an armbar was “a wrestling move.”
UFC 154 wasn’t the first time I’ve attended a UFC event. It wasn’t even the first time I’ve attended one at the Bell Centre. (That would be UFC 113, when Mauricio “Shogun” Rua emphatically put an end to the Machida Era.) But with Georges St. Pierre fighting — returning from a serious knee injury, no less — this card was a special experience. Not to say it didn’t have its flaws — the decisions got to be a bit much after a while, Alessio Sakara managed to get himself disqualified, and Tom Lawlor managed to get himself robbed. Still, the atmosphere of the crowd, Johny Hendricks’ knockout of Martin Kampmann and the finale, in which St. Pierre withstood the most adversity he’s faced in years, more than made up for it.
I was seated a few rows above the exit ramp, where the fighters made their way backstage following their fights. It provided me a great view of the action, the fighters as they walked by, and Dan Hardy’s mohawk. Hardy was in attendance, and made frequent trips back and forth between cageside and backstage. So, consider it official: Dan Hardy pees a lot. Maybe. Also seen frequenting the backstage area were Brittney Palmer and Arianny Celeste, both of whom are (quickly) escorted out after the third round commences in each fight, and Bruce Buffer, who was rather short. I also managed to catch Ben Fowlkes walking down towards cageside and yelled after him, but whether my voice was lost in the din of the crowd or Fowlkes is just terrified of being associated with CagePotato yet again, I cannot say. (It’s definitely the latter.)
The Canadian crowd was pretty solid throughout. They’re not quite as partisan as the Brazilian crowds, but damn if they don’t cheer their fighters on — even if they don’t know who those fighters are. I suspect no one there knew who Ontario’s own Antonio Carvalho was. (I also suspect I was part of this group.) They occasionally boo too early, but in general they seemed fairly knowledgeable. Unfortunately, that generalization did not apply to the group sitting directly behind me, who complained that Chad Griggs was matched up unfairly with Cyrille Diabate — he was, but not because he was “tiny” — and were under the impression that an armbar was “a wrestling move.”
That said, it could have been worse. Following the Rafael Dos Anjos–Mark Bocek fight (Or was it the Lawlor-Francis Carmont bout? I don’t know, after a while all of the decisions kind of blurred together) there was a brawl in the stands on the other side of the arena from where I was sitting. Some dude was tossed down the stairs, some other guys were knocked out, security had to run in and intervene. Even members of the Canadian military — there were a lot of them there for some reason — got involved to stop the fighting. So let it be known; despite its progressive image, Canada has meatheads too. Though I’m sure they all apologized profusely to each other over a bowl of poutine later that night.
Oh, and there were some other fights as well. Ones that took place inside the Octagon. In fact, I recognized a number of fighters from the last time I was at the Bell Centre — Hendricks, Lawlor, Patrick Cote, and Sam Stout all fought at UFC 113. Some hadn’t really changed at all; Stout put on an entertaining performance, but was undone by his relatively porous defense against John Makdessi. Cote was yet again a victim of piss-poor luck; last time I saw him, he was the recipient of a piledriver that barely managed to avoid being ruled a head spike, courtesy of Alan Belcher. This night, he was knocked out with roughly seven strikes to the back of his head. At least this time he got the win via disqualification. (Interestingly enough, this drew huge cheers from the crowd, despite the fact that Cote himself was clearly unsatisfied.)
But other fighters looked noticeably different this time around. Tom Lawlor — who I expected to get wrecked by Francis Carmont – actually managed to fight the fight that he wanted, bullying Carmont into the fence and outlanding him. Not that he was able to do much damage, but he controlled the Octagon and was able to block most of Carmont’s shots. The judges, however, failed to see it that way and awarded Carmont the victory, which caused a significant amount of the crowd to actually booCarmont. If you’re a judge, and a Canadian crowd boos your decision giving a Canadian fighter the victory, it probably means you fucked up. Lawlor walked out disgusted, and no post-fight interview was held.
Meanwhile, the last time I had seen Johny Hendricks, he had eked out a majority decision win over TJ Grant. Oh, what a difference two years can make. I expected him to have trouble against Kampmann, who I thought was the superior striker of the two. Kampmann might be more technical, but he’s eminently hittable and Hendricks packs a wallop in his punches. As it turned out, that was not a good combination for Kampmann. 40 seconds into the fight, Hendricks followed a missed right hook with a left haymaker that hit Kampmann on the jaw and felled him like a tree. After a night of decisions, the crowd — finally afforded a moment of spectacle — erupted with euphoria. Hendricks was the new number one contender (until Nick Diaz manages to shit talk his way into the discussion), and Kampmann was helped backstage, as he still hadn’t recovered five minutes after he had gone down.
Then it was time for the return of the prodigal son, Georges St. Pierre. After Condit was lustily booed during his entrance, St. Pierre’s music hit and the French Canadian made his way to the Octagon to the raucous cheers of the masses. (He actually entered through the ramp I was right next to, but it was impossible to get close to the sides as everyone had crowded around them by that point. Hat thieves must be a tenacious bunch.) Somehow, as GSP entered the ring, the crowd got even louder. By the time Bruce Buffer introduced St. Pierre, you couldn’t even hear him.
But all the noise the crowd made seemed to underscore a certain anxiety it was trying so desperately to hide. No one knew how St. Pierre would perform, whether his knee was still affecting him, whether ring rust would play a role in his fight. The first round began, and St. Pierre landed occasional jabs. Each time, the crowd ooh’d and aah’d, perhaps in an effort to support St. Pierre as much as convince themselves these were significant strikes. Then St. Pierre landed one of his trademark takedowns, and the place erupted again. The hero was back, their fears alleviated. St. Pierre did a brilliant job of maintaining distance on the feet while never letting Condit move forward, dictating the pace at which the fight was fought and when the exchanges would take place. On the ground, he utilized a can-opener to repeatedly mitigate Condit’s attempts to utilize a high guard, and passed to side control while landing elbows that cut Condit open. Everything was going as the crowd had hoped.
Then the kick came. In the third round, Condit came forward, missing with a left-right combo, ducked and threw a head kick. It was an unorthodox position to throw a kick from, and St. Pierre didn’t see it coming. From where I was sitting, I was facing St. Pierre’s back at the time. I saw the kick connect on his temple, his legs stagger and St. Pierre fall. The crowd let out a collective gasp in shock and terror. Immediately, that anxiety returned. As Condit began following up with ground and pound, I had flashbacks of Serra-St. Pierre I. Would St. Pierre wilt under pressure again? The answer was a resounding “no.” St. Pierre defended Condit’s onslaught, grabbed a leg, and seemingly willed by sheer determination as much as his brilliant grappling technique, was able to turn the tables and get up. When St. Pierre managed to take Condit down, the crowd — yet again — erupted in euphoria. You know how the rest of the fight went, and when St. Pierre had the belt wrapped around his waist yet again, the Bell Centre went nuts for a final time. Sadly, Anderson Silva did not step in the cage and claim he was unimpressed with GSP’s performance.
As everyone left the arena, it was hard not to appreciate what we had just witnessed. Yes, there had been a lot of decisions, but there wasn’t necessarily a lack of action throughout the night. And the last two fights had more than made up for any disappointments that had preceded them. A new challenger had announced his presence in the welterweight division, and the hometown hero had made a successful return after months of speculation and uncertainty. It was a glorious homecoming for St. Pierre, who overcame the type of adversity his detractors had long claimed he was somehow too mentally fragile to withstand en route to a clear-cut decision win over a man he claimed was the toughest test in his career. There isn’t much more you could’ve asked for.
OK, maybe a couple more finishes.
UFC 154 QUICK RESULTS
Main Card (PPV)
– Georges St-Pierre def. Carlos Condit via unanimous decision (49–46, 50–45, 50–45)
– Johny Hendricks def. Martin Kampmann via KO, 0:46 of round 1
– Francis Carmont def. Tom Lawlor via split-decision (29–28, 28–29, 29–28)
– Rafael dos Anjos def. Mark Bocek via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)
– Pablo Garza def. Mark Hominick via unanimous decision (29–27, 30–26, 29–28)
Preliminary Card (FX)
– Patrick Côté def. Alessio Sakara via disqualification (punches to back of head), 1:26 of round 1
– Cyrille Diabaté def. Chad Griggs via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:24 of round 1
– John Makdessi def. Sam Stout via unanimous decision (30–27, 29–28, 30–27)
– Antonio Carvalho def. Rodrigo Damm via split-decision (29–28, 28–29, 29–28)
Preliminary Card (Facebook)
– Matthew Riddle def. John Maguire via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 29–28)
– Ivan Menjivar def. Azamat Gashimov via submission (armbar), 2:44 of round 1
– Darren Elkins def. Steven Siler via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)
MONTREAL – “I’m a wrestler and can knock people out, that’s pretty sweet, huh,” chuckled Johny Hendricks following his win over Martin Kampmann on Saturday night in Montreal.The comment brought smiles to the faces of those in attendance at the UFC 154 …
MONTREAL – “I’m a wrestler and can knock people out, that’s pretty sweet, huh,” chuckled Johny Hendricks following his win over Martin Kampmann on Saturday night in Montreal.
The comment brought smiles to the faces of those in attendance at the UFC 154 post-fight press conference and most likely accepting nods from other fighters in the UFC’s welterweight division.
Yes, Johny Hendricks is an accomplished wrestler, a two-time NCAA champion with Oklahoma State University, but he also has a left hand that may just be the most dangerous offensive weapon at 170 pounds right now.
Everyone saw what Hendricks did to Jon Fitch at UFC 141. Everyone knew Hendricks was going to come out looking for that one big left against Kampmann, the same punch that put Fitch away at the 12-second mark back in December.
In an interview early in the week Hendricks called his shot, saying of Kampmann, “Let me hit him one time. I can’t wait to put my left hand right on his chin and let’s see where it goes from there.”
Where it went from there was to the bank. The 46-second knockout earned Hendricks a cool $70,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus.
Where that knockout will lead to next is the bigger question. The win over Kampmann put Hendricks’ record at 14-1 and gave him a five-fight UFC winning streak.
The victory should put him in line to face Georges St-Pierre in the champion’s next UFC welterweight title defense, but there’s that pesky superfight with Anderson Silva hanging in the air for St-Pierre that may have some effect on Hendricks getting a timely title shot.
Title shot or no, Johny Hendricks has shown that he is a very dangerous man.
For those who missed the fights on Saturday, here’s another look at Johny Hendricks‘s devastating knockout of Martin Kampmann, which earned “Bigg Rigg” a $70,000 Knockout of the Night check, cemented him as the likely #1 contender in the UFC welterweight division, and saved the UFC 154 main card from a long night of decisions. The 46-second KO increased Hendricks’s win streak to five, with his last three victories coming against Jon Fitch (via 12-second KO), Josh Koscheck (via split-decision), and now this smash-up of Martin Kampmann.
On yesterday’s edition of the Verbal Submission radio show, Hendricks stated that he won’t take another fight before getting his title shot, even if reigning champion Georges St. Pierre decides to fight Anderson Silva in his next appearance. Judging from GSP’s non-committal post-fight interview with Joe Rogan on Saturday, squaring off against the Spider doesn’t really seem to be a priority for him. UFC fans may want to see GSP in a champion vs. champion catchweight superfight against Silva, but if St. Pierre decides to remain in his division for now, there’s at least one challenger who could give him a hell of a match. (Hint: It’s the bearded dude with the magical death-fists.)
(Props: Fox Sports/FUEL TV)
For those who missed the fights on Saturday, here’s another look at Johny Hendricks‘s devastating knockout of Martin Kampmann, which earned “Bigg Rigg” a $70,000 Knockout of the Night check, cemented him as the likely #1 contender in the UFC welterweight division, and saved the UFC 154 main card from a long night of decisions. The 46-second KO increased Hendricks’s win streak to five, with his last three victories coming against Jon Fitch (via 12-second KO), Josh Koscheck (via split-decision), and now this smash-up of Martin Kampmann.
On yesterday’s edition of the Verbal Submission radio show, Hendricks stated that he won’t take another fight before getting his title shot, even if reigning champion Georges St. Pierre decides to fight Anderson Silva in his next appearance. Judging from GSP’s non-committal post-fight interview with Joe Rogan on Saturday, squaring off against the Spider doesn’t really seem to be a priority for him. UFC fans may want to see GSP in a champion vs. champion catchweight superfight against Silva, but if St. Pierre decides to remain in his division for now, there’s at least one challenger who could give him a hell of a match. (Hint: It’s the bearded dude with the magical death-fists.)
UFC welterweight Martin Kampmann isn’t dwelling on his loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC 154 last year, but he is certainly itching to get back in the cage to wash out the bad taste of defeat from his mouth.
