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UFC 154 Exclusive: Martin Kampmann Says He’s Ready to Take Out Hendricks, Picks Condit Over St. Pierre

(Martin Kampmann: He’s nice, until it’s time to *not* be nice. / Photo via fighthubtv.com)

Leading up to this Saturday’s UFC 154, it has, at times, seemed as if co-main event opponents Martin Kampmann and Johny Hendricks have had to field more questions about past and possible future opponents than one another. The two welterweights square off in what should be a #1 contender’s fight in Montreal for the right to face the winner of the headliner between champion Georges St. Pierre and interim champ Carlos Condit.

There’s good reason that the Dane is getting lots of questions about his past and future even though he’s got Hendricks in front of him. Kampmann, like Hendricks, is on a tear in the welterweight division and also owns a win over Condit.

“It doesn’t matter what fight it is,” Kampmann tells CagePotato. “Everybody tries to be like, ‘you beat this guy,’ ‘what are you going to do after this fight?’ My main thing right now is Johny Hendricks. That’s what I’m training hard for.”

And it’s the training that keeps Martin focused throughout all the potentially distracting media attention and questions he’s fielded over the past few months.

“This started as a hobby for me so I like the grind,” Kampmann explains. “I like to get in the gym. When you have a fight you have to get in the gym a lot but I still enjoy it. Of course some days you want to be in the gym more than others, but overall my motivation is really good. Even when I don’t have a fight I’m in the gym training because I love to train. I enjoy training and I have fun doing it.”

(Martin Kampmann: He’s nice, until it’s time to *not* be nice. / Photo via fighthubtv.com)

By Elias Cepeda

And it’s the training that keeps Martin focused throughout all the potentially distracting media attention and questions he’s fielded over the past few months.

Its something that he and Hendricks did a lot together, in fact. A while back the two adversaries were, in fact, training partners. Kampmann helped the college wrestling superstar with his striking and Hendricks worked with Martin on his wrestling.

“We trained together some years ago when he started fighting. He was fighting in the WEC. He was here in Vegas for a couple of years, I think. In the beginning he was training at Xtreme Couture a lot, and then he was training more at [Marc] Laimon’s gym. I still knew him a little bit and we trained quite a lot together,” Kampmann details.

“He was helping me with my wrestling, helping me a lot actually, and I was helping him with his stand-up. There was mutual benefit for both of us but I’m still confident that I can beat him.”

When asked if the familiarity with one another will work in his favor or not, Kampmann is thoughtful and honest.

“I’m not sure if it’s good or bad. I don’t know.”

What he does know is that Hendricks is no joke and that he can’t look past him.

“The things that stood out in training with him were the same things that stand out when he fights. He’s got a heavy left hand and he’s got great wrestling. That’s his main strength. He had decided to learn, had decided to get better. He’s a hard worker. That’s what has gotten him from the WEC all the way to the top of the UFC welterweight division. He’s been working hard,” Kampmann allows.

The opponent and the stakes of the fight create a lot of pressure but Kampmann says he relishes big fights and the pressure that comes with them. “I’ve been in big fights before and done well. The big fights are the ones I want.”

If Kampmann beats Hendricks he will likely take on St. Pierre or Condit for the unified world title. The Xtreme Couture fighter makes it clear that it is the belt that he’s gunning for, and not any particular fighter.

“Right now GSP is considered the best so right now I want to fight GSP,” Kampmann says. “If Condit beats him I want to fight him. I want to fight for the real belt.”

At first Kampmann picked St. Pierre to beat Condit but says that his opinion has changed recently. “I used to think GSP would win but now I’m leaning for Condit to win the fight,” he says.

“Condit can finish it. Condit is not going to quit. I think he might be able to hurt GSP and make him quit.”

“The Natural Born Killer” at least is more of a known commodity to Kampmann. They fought one another in a close and thrilling 2009 bout where Kampmann came out on top via decision.

“Our first fight was a war so I’m sure the fans wouldn’t mind seeing another one with two more rounds,” he says.

If Condit does manage to upset St. Pierre in his hometown at UFC 154, Kampmann is confident that he will beat the champion much more decisively than he did before.

“I feel confident in that fight and I feel confident that I’d be able to finish him the next time.”

‘UFC on FX 5? Exclusive: Jay Hieron’s Last Stand

(Just remember, Jay — no matter how many setbacks you suffer in life, there are still people who are much, much worse off than you are.)

By Andreas Hale

Last month, Jay Hieron (23-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC) was days away from making his return to the UFC for the first time in seven years when the proverbial rug was pulled out from under him. The now infamous series of events that resulted in the cancelation of UFC 151 left Heiron and others out in the cold as he was prepared to face Jake Ellenberger in a welterweight showdown that marked his first fight in the Octagon since 2005. But while many of the fighters on the 151 card panicked and wondered when and if they’d get the opportunity to fight again, Hieron took it in stride, patiently waited, and was rescheduled to face Ellenberger at UFC on FX 5: Browne vs. Bigfoot this Friday, October 5.

The Las Vegas-based fighter has been in this situation before. He was supposed to fight on the Affliction: Trilogy card in 2009 that ended up being canned, and a Strikeforce welterweight title shot against Nick Diaz later that year was shuttered after Diaz failed to get licensed by the California State Athletic Commission. It’s like Hieron walked under a ladder and broke a mirror while a black cat crossed his path.

“People were saying that I am cursed,” the Xtreme Couture fighter says with a hearty laugh. “At the end of the day, if there isn’t a twist on it for me then something isn’t right. I’ve learned to embrace all these things that surround the fight game. I’m never surprised.”

So, seriously, what’s a few more weeks when you’ve waited seven long years since your last UFC fight?

(Just remember, Jay — no matter how many setbacks you suffer in life, there are still people who are much, much worse off than you are.)

By Andreas Hale

So, seriously, what’s a few more weeks when you’ve waited seven long years since your last UFC fight?

“I was ready to go before but the postponement just meant I had more time to prepare,” Hieron says about the extra month he has had to wait before making his return to the Octagon. “I don’t want to say it’s a good thing, but I’ve been through that before. Of course I was a little down because it was here in Vegas, but at the end of the day it’s out of my control.”

Hieron’s last UFC appearance — a TKO-due-to-cut loss to Jonathan Goulet in October 2005 — took place well before the sport boomed into the worldwide phenomenon that it is today. Put it like this, the last time Hieron fought in the UFC, Jon Jones was an 18-year-old who had no idea what his future would hold for him, while Anderson Silva was far from the best pound for pound fighter in the world, as he was fresh off of a flying scissor heel hook from Ryo Chonan. Hieron is 37-years old now and promises that he’s a far different fighter than the one who went 0-2 in the UFC a lifetime ago. Despite the long wait, Hieron feels that the timing couldn’t be better.

“My career has taken me in different directions,” he says about his MMA stints in promotions including Bellator, Strikeforce, and the IFL. “A lot of guys aren’t blessed to make money outside of the UFC but I have and I’ve been able to get better. I could have been back for sure but I went for title shots with Diaz and money in other circumstances. Now couldn’t be any better, the timing is perfect.”

Standing across the cage from him will be a familiar face. Back in 2006, Jay Hieron handed Jake Ellenberger his first professional loss. More recently, Hieron cornered Martin Kampmann’s stunning comeback knockout victory over Ellenberger at The Ultimate Fighter finale this past June. “We know each other, it’s no secret,” he says about Ellenberger being his ticket back into the UFC. “But even though I won the last time I know that he’s gotten better. However, I’m a totally different fighter as well.”

In the back of his mind, Jay Hieron knows that this may be his last stand in the UFC. At the age of 37, very few chances are left and he’s looking to make the most out of this opportunity on October 5 because his window is closing rapidly.

“There’s only one Randy Couture, but I’ll fight as long as my body lets me,” Hieron says while noting that he feels better than he ever has. “I do everything to keep my body fresh and I have taken little punishment in my career. There will be a time when I will have to step back because you can’t outrun father time, but right now, I feel awesome. I still feel like I have my best years ahead of me and this is where I want to finish my career.”

All he has to do is take out Ellenberger in Friday’s co-main event in Minneapolis, MN.

“I’m definitely looking for the finish,” Hieron says.”I’m looking for him to make mistakes and I will surely look to capitalize. I’m confident in my skills and my team that we’ll be ready for anything he has to offer.”

‘UFC on FOX 4? Exclusive: For Cole Miller, Losing Is No Longer an Option

By Elias Cepeda

UFC featherweight Cole Miller (18-6) doesn’t mince words and isn’t initially open to reflection today. He’s on his way from Miami’s international airport to Los Angeles, where he will fight Nam Pham this Saturday, August 4th, on the preliminary card of UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera.

Traveling is hardly ever any fun, and it must be less so for someone cutting weight, as Miller is. And when he’s asked what he may have learned from his last fight, a loss to Steven Siler in March, Miller is hard on himself.

“I wouldn’t say I learned anything from that fight. I just looked like shit,” he deadpans. “I moved backwards too much, I tried to counter too much, which is not really my game. I don’t know why I did that.”

Miller has never lost two fights in a row in his MMA career — and admits to a certain pride in that — but says that these days, losing at all is not acceptable. “When I was younger [losing two in a row] really meant that you didn’t learn from your previous mistake or didn’t work hard enough. Now its more of a, ‘losing sucks, period,’ feeling,” he says.

By Elias Cepeda

Miller’s opponent, Phan, is also coming off of a loss, to Jimmy Hettes at UFC 141 last December. Miller says he can’t take away much from Phan’s last bout, either.

“Nam got rocked in the first round and I think he never really recovered,” he says. “I don’t really think his last fight showed much of anything other than that he is hard to finish. He nearly got TKO’d from punches from the top, he’s got solid boxing and good conditioning, and he hasn’t been finished in years. He’s also a black belt in Karate so he’s got good kicks.”

Phan also happens to be a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but Miller believes he’ll have the advantage on the ground. He’ll just have to get it there.

“I think I have an advantage on the ground for sure, but its all about being able to take it and keep it there,” Miller says. “Nam seems non engaging on the ground, more defensive. When Mike Brown took him down in their fight, he didn’t play Jiu Jitsu at all, he just tried to get up. When he was in Leonard Garcia’s closed guard, he mostly looked to ground and pound. I’m sure his Jiu Jitsu is good, we just haven’t seen him play that game much.”

At 6’1, Miller will have a huge reach advantage over Phan, and the American Top Team member hopes that will make his striking attack that much more potent.

“I hope [my reach] will have a big impact on my striking successfully. But the thing about reach is that it doesn’t mean anything if you cant establish it,” he explains. “That’s what the game is going to be — can I keep him where I want him? Can I keep him at a distance or in really tight and out of that middle range, or is he going to punch me up?”

One thing Miller seems certain of is that he will feel strong and be conditioned. He recently went back down to his old weight of 145 pounds, after spending his UFC career at lightweight.

“This is the best shape ever been in. Naturally, it’s fight week so I’m annoyed, low on weight. This part is the sucky part but this is part of the game. I feel strong this late, and I did well with other training partners that fight at the same weight class. This is my weight class,” he says.

One of those training partners is former WEC champion Mike Brown, who has previously faced and beaten Phan. Miller says he did ask Brown for tips, but that help can only go so far since he and Brown are completely different types of fighters.

“I got some sparring in with [Brown] during camp,” Miller says. “But the thing is, Nam is going to come at me with a completely different type of game than he did with Mike Brown. Mike and I are basically polar opposites. Sure, you ask about little things like how he felt, but I don’t put much stock into video or what somebody else tells me. My game is nothing like anything else Nam has ever fought.”

Miller will be the outsider coming in to face the Southern California resident Phan, on Saturday. It’s a role that, even if he doesn’t relish it, he has gotten used to.

“I haven’t fought in my home state, in Georgia or Florida since 2006 so fighting guys in their home is something I do,” Miller says. “It is more motivating than anything else. I know they are motivated. If I was able to fight in my hometown I’d be more motivated than I ever had been before, I’d be putting in even more work, pushing it extra hard and I expect my opponent is trying to do the same thing. So, I’m putting in the work and driving myself extra to exceed that.”

Exclusive: Martin Kampmann Talks Comebacks and Title Shots

(Nothing that a little super-glue and duct tape won’t fix… / Photo via @MartinKampmann)

By Elias Cepeda

At this point, fight fans are wondering how Martin Kampmann can keep pulling dramatic victories out from the jaws of defeat. In March, the UFC welterweight contender was being soundly beaten for fourteen minutes by Thiago Alves on the feet before forcing him to tap out to a guillotine choke with seconds left in the fight.

Less than two weeks ago, Kampmann did it again, this time against Jake Ellenberger. Ellenberger connected with a monster left hook to the dome of Kampmann at the start of their TUF 15 Finale main event bout. Kampmann went down hard and looked to be moments away from losing and letting the division’s number one contender spot to the interim title — or whatever these poor guys are competing for at this point, in Georges St. Pierre’s absence — go to his opponent.

Instead, Kampmann somehow survived the round. Less than two minutes into the second, he landed his own punches and one huge knee to the head, putting Ellenberger down and out, and scoring his second come-from-behind stoppage win of 2012.

But good luck trying to figure out what, exactly, was going on in Kampmann’s mind at those moments of in-cage crisis before he turned the tide. “I kind of go on autopilot when I’m in there and try not to think too much,” Kampmann tells CagePotato.com.

Thinking is for training, for strategy, for figuring out how to prepare for the fight. In the heat of battle itself, a fighter needs his training to pay off with dividends of pure reaction. Punches, kicks, feints, and even submission holds need to be instinctual at that point.

“The more I think, the worse I do,” Kampmann explains.

(Nothing that a little super-glue and duct tape won’t fix… / Photo via @MartinKampmann)

By Elias Cepeda

“The more I think, the worse I do,” Kampmann explains.

Kampmann has nearly as many professional fights as he does years of life, with many more amateur MMA, kickboxing, boxing, and submission grappling contests under his belt as well. He says that all of that, plus the hard moments in the gym where he’s gotten in trouble and persevered, are the keys to his ungodly durability in the Octagon.

“I’ve been in those situations before and that experience helps you stay composed in the fight,” he says.

Kampmann is about to head to his native Denmark for a well-deserved vacation as well as to likely undergo surgery to repair a nagging injury to his knee. After that, he says he’d like a shot at interim UFC welterweight champ Carlos Condit.

Johny Hendricks has also called out Condit after recently beating Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck, back-to-back, but Kampmann is the last man to have beaten Condit. Three years ago, the pair clashed at UFC Night Night 18, with the Dane winning a decision. Kampmann says that he will fight Hendricks in an elimination match if he has to, as Dana White has said he is intending to have happen. But there is no doubt in Kampmann’s mind that he’s already earned a title shot.”

“I feel I’ve done the hard work and I feel I’ve earned the title shot,” he says. “I’ve fought some of the best guys in the division, I’m on a three fight win-streak and the judges didn’t see it my way in a couple fights before that. But everyone knows my opinion on those decisions. I’m not gonna keep whining about that.”

Kampmann says he has no personal axe to grind with Condit — he just wants the belt. “I’m cool with Condit. He’s a cool guy,” he says. “But I know he wants to erase his losses. He told me some time before that he wants to fight me again to avenge the loss. He’s just a competitor, like me. I want to erase all my losses and I don’t blame him for wanting to do the same thing.”

UFC 145 Exclusive: Jon Jones On Life After Rashad, Steroids, His Heavyweight Future + More

At this point, everything that Jon Jones has to say about his rivalry with Rashad Evans has been said (and said, and said). But with less than a week remaining until their looooong-awaited showdown, we wanted to get a better sense of Bones’s mindset heading into his third light-heavyweight belt-defense at UFC 145. CagePotato video-correspondent Sal Mora spent a few minutes with the champ at his Jackson’s MMA homebase in Albuquerque for an exclusive fight-week interview that you can watch after the jump. Some highlights…

– On the possibility of a reconciliation with Evans after the fight: “I honestly don’t know what will go on after the fight, but I really don’t have any interest in becoming friends with Rashad again. I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to do a job.”

– On moving to heavyweight: “I did ask Dana White, ‘Can I get a fight at heavyweight at the end of this year?’ and he told me that he didn’t think that was best for me right now. I’m totally okay with where I’m at and competing at the light-heavyweight division. I think there’s a lot of great competition left…I’m sure guys like Lyoto [Machida] are gonna be coming back around for their rematches too, so everything’s going according to plan.”

– On the possibility of a reconciliation with Evans after the fight: ”I honestly don’t know what will go on after the fight, but I really don’t have any interest in becoming friends with Rashad again. I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to do a job.”

– On Alistair Overeem and the performance-enhancing drug crisis in MMA: “I’ve never seen anyone here at Jackson’s MMA participate in any type of steroid use. I don’t know anybody on our team that could possibly be taking steroids. And as far as Alistair Overeem, that’s really his problem. Steroids is unfortunately a part of all sports and he was just the one that got caught…It’s really not my world, I’ll compete against someone on steroids any day. I believe in some cases that people who abuse steroids have weakness in their hearts, you know, they don’t believe in working hard. I’m not against steroids, I think in some cases you need steroids, like if you’re an older gentlemen, or you have some type of illness or something like that, but when an athlete abuses it, I mean that’s their business.”

– On where he’ll be in five years: ”I see myself continuing to work hard, continuing to try to strive to solidify a place in the history books of the sport.”

UFC 145: Jon Jones Video Interview – Watch More Funny Videos

UFC 145 Exclusive: Travis Browne Discusses Chad Griggs, Facial Hair, Dogs, Fatherhood + More

After compiling a 3-0-1 record in the UFC, heavyweight contender Travis “Hapa” Browne will welcome Strikeforce standout Chad Griggs into the Octagon at UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans (April 21st, Atlanta). CagePotato video-correspondent Sal Mora caught up to the undefeated slugger at the Jackson’s MMA camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to chat about his upcoming match — which will close out the UFC 145 preliminary card broadcast on FX — as well as Browne’s life outside of the cage. Check out the exclusive video after the jump, and let us know how you think this one will go down. Some highlights from the interview…

– On deserving a “step up” after four fights in the UFC: “I can’t worry myself with that. Joe Silva lines ’em up, I knock ’em down. Whoever he decides to put in front of me, it’s none of my business. I’m just out there to put on a show and keep winning my fights. It doesn’t matter who I fight, or where I stand in the rankings. I’m not somebody who gets caught up in that. I don’t even know where I stand right now, actually.”

– On what his sons think of their dad’s MMA career: “I think right now it’s not something that they have fully grasped. Before I came to camp, my last dinner with my kids…we’re all sitting down to dinner, and the waiter comes over and says, ‘Can I get you guys anything to drink?’ and my son stands up on the bench that he’s sitting on and says, ‘Hey! My dad’s in the video game!’…It was really cool to see my son happy about that. I just want my kids to be proud of me, and I think I’m doing that.”

– On deserving a “step up” after four fights in the UFC: ”I can’t worry myself with that. Joe Silva lines ‘em up, I knock ‘em down. Whoever he decides to put in front of me, it’s none of my business. I’m just out there to put on a show and keep winning my fights. It doesn’t matter who I fight, or where I stand in the rankings. I’m not somebody who gets caught up in that. I don’t even know where I stand right now, actually.”

– On Griggs’s style: “Chad comes out and sets a pretty high pace. He’s a smaller heavyweight, so he can get away with that…No matter what, you have to be just as intense as your opponent, if not more. Otherwise, that can help sway the momentum their way.”

– On dog-training: ”I had my own dog and I was too poor to get her trained, so I started apprenticing under a trainer, and since [then], I just grew fond of training dogs, and saw what difference you can make in people’s lives when they have a dog that’s actually trained and well behaved…I haven’t been training dogs for the last couple years since I started in the UFC, that way I can focus fully on my training and make sure I come out on top in my fights, but it’s definitely something I want to get back to once I’m done.”

– On the possibility of his kids following in his fighter-footsteps: “I think it would be tough for me. I love my boys, and anybody who truly knows me knows I’m a big softie. I hate watching my friends fight; that’s stressful for me because I don’t have any control over it. I would rather take an ass-whippin’ instead of letting them take one. You know what I mean? If they’re catching one, I would rather catch it for them. But I think watching my kids do something like that, I think I would be proud of their accomplishments, and I would be there for them if they ever had any disappointments in their career. But I’m just here to support them, I’m not pushing MMA on them…I’m letting them learn themselves and see what they like and what they want to develop into.”

UFC 145 Video Interview with Travis Browne – Watch More Funny Videos

[Ed. note: I specifically asked Sal to throw in that question about the four-year-old Yorkie. I was hoping that Travis would reveal some pro tips that I could use to control my dog’s separation anxiety, but I guess there’s no such thing as free advice when it comes to dog training. – BG]