Condit vs. Kampmann: The Break Down

For the first time in a long time, I’m not going to focus on an entire fight card and solely take a look at a fight that has some serious title contention implications. 

Martin Kampmann vs. Carlos Condit is a very intriguing matchup featuring two very solid fighters who are both looking to make some noise in a weight division that is already full of contenders. 

Martin Kampmann is new to the welterweight division, but is absolutely no new comer when it comes to the UFC. 

Kampmann was a rising star in the middleweight division, early in his UFC career till a fight with Nate Marquardt that made him look like a child and not a rising star.

The fight all but forced him to move down to welterweight and he had an impressive showing at 170 vs. Alexandre Barros at UFC 93. 

The Danish fighter is a very good standup fighter who has 50 percent of his wins by way of TKO, and with his training at Xtreme Couture has developed a good ground game. 

His cut to 170 didn’t affected him; he probably should have been at this weight class from the very beginning. 

Carlos Condit is considered a top ten welterweight, and was the WEC welterweight champion, prior to the WEC doing away with the division.  He is a very good ground fighter with nearly 60 percent of his wins come way of submission.

He is very versed on the ground with submissions via kimura, arm bar, RNC, you name it, and more than likely he has finished an opponent with it.   He is now training at ACS with current WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner and TUF winners CB Dollaway and Ryan Bader, so his ground game will only improve. 

With his ground game set firm, his standup has been ever developing and with nine of his 22 wins coming by TKO.

Both men are on the cusp of the top tier of the 170-pound class so who will become the next great thing in the division. 

Stand up

The advantage goes to the former kick boxer turned MMA fighter, and that person is Martin Kampmann.  He has a higher win percentage standing up and his all around skills are just more developed. 

He should be able to use his reach to his advantage and should find a home to leg kicks.  That’s not to say that Condit couldn’t win the standup war, I just feels like Kampmann would be more likely to stop the fight here rather than Condit. 

The big thing that Condit will use his stand up for is to set up the takedown.  He uses his jab very effectively and I see him doing the same in this fight. 

Condit does have power and loves to use leg kicks to soften his opponents.  With all that said Kampmann must win this area to win the fight.

Ground Game

Kampmann will have a disadvantage in this aspect of the fight however it doesn’t mean that he has no skills in this department. 

Xtreme Couture is a wrestling hot bed with great MMA wrestlers like Gray Maynard, Jay Hieron, Tyson Griffin and others.

His Jiu Jitsu is underrated, and as we saw in his fight with Drew McFedries he is more than just a striker.   Carlos Condit is without a doubt more than capable on the ground than Kampmann. 

Like I stated before, 13 of his 22 wins have come by way of submission.  Condit has a serious advantage here, and my guess is that he will get the fight to the ground ASAP. 

He has some great takedowns and slams and I see him working hard at a double leg, lifting Kampmann and introducing Kampmann’s back to the mat. 

The Extras

Carlos Condit has been in tough welterweight fights in the WEC as a champion so he understands the pressure as a Main Event fighter, where Kampmann hasn’t. 

Condit has also faced much tougher opponents in his career and should be able to control the big fight nerves. 

I think that Kampmann’s camp at Xtreme Couture will give him the ability to spare and train with better fighters where Condit is one of the top fighters at ACS with really a bunch of up and coming fighters to train with. 

By the way this isn’t a knock on ACS it’s just that they are not as elite a camp as Xtreme Couture. 

I see this fight going something like this.  Kampmann will use his striking to keep the fight standing early in the hopes to not allow Condit to shoot in for a takedown.  I think that Kampmann will keep it standing enough to win the first round. 

Round two will start with Condit getting the clinch and finally getting the fight to the ground where he will work to side control then to the mount.

It’s at this point where Kampmann will turn to his belly, allowing Condit to get his hooks in and work for the RNC getting it early in the second.

The winner and now number two contender in the welterweight division is Carlos Condit via RNC in the second.