Martin Kampmann Turns Down TJ Grant Fight
Rising welterweight Martin Kampmann has declined a reported bout against TJ Grant at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale and instead has his sights set on a bout against a higher-ranked opponent.
Here’s what Kampmann told Versus.com:
“No disrespect to T.J. Grant, but I don’t think it’s a fight that makes any sense for me at the moment. I want to fight some higher ranked guys. I never even knew who the guy was, and he’s probably a tough guy, but I want to fight guys who make sense for me and who can escalate me up the ladder more, so I didn’t accept that fight. I don’t know what happened, but apparently some miscommunication somewhere because I saw it all over the internet.
“If I’m thinking with my b*lls, I’ll take any fight that comes up. But I got to be smart about my career and take the fights that make sense for me, and I don’t think that fight makes sense for me at this time. Maybe when he gets some more wins in the UFC and builds up some good wins in the UFC, then maybe will meet somewhere along the road later.”
Kampmann is reportedly eying the winners of Mike Swick vs. Ben Saunders and Dan Hardy vs. Marcus Davis at UFC 99 as potential opponents for his next fight.
Grant is expected to remain on the Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale card, but will instead meet a different opponent that is still to-be-determined.
[Pictured: Martin Kampmann]
Tags: Martin Kampmann, TJ Grant
Loading ...
I agree with him on this one. I also don’t feel any fighter should turn down UFC fights because it might turn the powers that be against you but then again, if you don’t speak, you could end up just like Jon Fitch at 8-0 with no title fight or marketing done.
They look at turning down fights differently depending on who you are. Kampmann has been there a while, and just beat Condit, so I guess it’s okay for him to turn down a fight. But when War “John Koppenhaver” Machine turns down a fight, amidst his other bad decisions, because the guy isn’t that big of a name, while he himself remains unproven… he’s gone.
exactly. I thought this fight seemed like a step down for kampaman(see kampman vs GRant TUF 9 finale)in the first place. After that fight with condit, and some of the big guys at middleweight hes knocked off kampman should deffinately be considered up their with fitch, kos, davis, swick, ect.
Great point Dirty. Jon fitch flew under the radar for far too long because he probably should have spoken up more about where he thought he stood in the ww rankings. I like kampann and admire him for standing up for himself and doing it in a professional manner(unlike war machine). I agree with him and think he should be fighting higher ranked ww’s. I would like to see him against kos, swick, or even matt brown. He’s a great adittion to the ww division and i can’t wait to see him fight again. Hell, give him karo when karo returns so he can kick his ass
I agree with having him fight Karo. That would be a good with Kampmann being favored IMO at this point. When is the drug suspension over?
Chairman,
I think the drug suspension is for 9 months.
You really can’t argue with that. I’d like to see him go up against Dan Hardy assuming he comes through ufc 99 with a W
Matin Kampmann should have taken the fight, i know he has the righ to refuse,but it doesn’t look good when a guy does that, despite who he’s beaten.
Look at Keith Jardine, he took the fight against Houston Alexander after beating Forrest Griffin, he also felt he should have gotten a contender,but he still took the fight and got knocked out in the worst way. It hurt his ranking a little, but the UFC aprreciates guys who fight anyone and look what happened after, ever since then he’s only fighting top guys. After the Alexander fight he went on to beat Liddell which made him a bigger name and earned him more respect from fans and his peers, then he fought Wanderlei Silva and Quinton Jackson, you can’t fight bigger names or bigger contenders than that.
So before Kampmann turns down another fight, he himself should put together a few more impressive wins before he makes anymore demands for contenders.
I like the jardine theory marvel well done, although in this case i think kampan is ok in turning down the fight. He’s a force at WW right now and knows that if he knocks off a top contender like swick or kos, he could be a shoe in for a “****le tot” lol.
well I see both sides on this, but he needs to be careful because he might get his wish against a top 5 or 10 guy and get his butt handed to him. more than likely he will fight kos, it seems like kos wants a fight every two months and im sure kos will beat kampmann. I dont feel like he is ready for a top 5 guy, I think hardy could ko him, and I would like to see kampmann and rumble fight, that would be a good match IMO.
Some people might argue that Condit was a top five guy.
Condit didn’t look like himself in that fight,the nerves might have got to him.I think Condit would beat him if they fought again.Kampmann was not impressive at all and was lucky to get the decision.So now he’s coming off a decision win and he thinks he’s a title contender?If he’s that good,than Grant shouldn’t be a problem for him.
Cannot fault him there. Fitch couldn’t really say no at the time though to be honest, Kampmann can here. Even though Condit was only the champion in the WEC he was still widely considered one of the top WW in the world, so to accept a fight against TJ Grant doesn’t make the most sense.
Plus Jardine actually proves why you SHOULD turn a fight down. Yeah Jardine will always have a job with the UFC but the guy has essentially become the guy for top fighters to rebound after a loss to someone else. He’s a great fighter no doubt and will always notch a win against a good fighter every once in awhile but he’s essentially a AAAA(baseball reference) guy. I’m not calling him a gatekeeper since he’s better than that but he’s not an elite 205 either.
chrisl did you mean triple A? the league right under the pros? I get what your saying though and its a good reference. condit is a top 10 guy no doubt, maybe top 5, kampmann was not stunningly impressive in their fight though so I dont see why he sorta demands a top 5 guy. I say let him get a top guy give him kos or fitch and then watch kampmann realize he wasnt ready. or who knows maybe he will ko either guy and get the loser of gsp-alves.
Nope I meant AAAA. Term for guys who are AAA superstars but once they’re in the big leagues they’re ok and occasionally have a flash of brilliance but never find the consistency to be big league stars. They’re better than every AAA player but just never make it at the highest level. I just meant Jardine dominates guys he’s supposed to beat and occasionally picks off a elite guy but isn’t consistent enough to be the champ…yet.