UFC veteran Martin Kampmann announces decision to retire from MMA

Kampmann (right) in his “Fight of the Night” with Diego Sanchez

Danish mixed martial artist Martin Kampmann made it official that he is hanging up his MMA gloves. The 33-year-old, who has been inactive since August 2013, told UFC.com,”I’ve known for a while. I just haven’t really made it official. I’m not sure why.”

According to Sherdog, “The Hitman” cited his desire to spend more time with his wife, two sons and newborn daughter as the impetus behind the move. There have been question marks surrounding his career since his fourth-round TKO loss to former Interim Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit in 2013.

Kampmann has since assumed a coaching position at Urijah Faber’s brainchild Team Alpha Male, in Sacramento, California. Said Kampmann, “I’m sure I’ll still be involved in MMA. It will probably be more from a hobby perspective, whereas before, I was doing full-time fighting and full-time coaching.

“But I still have gyms that I work with and that I help. I coach, I do seminars, and I work a lot with my affiliate gyms and make sure that they’re getting better in their MMA development. So, I’ll be involved in MMA, but now I’m really busy with other things.”

The Dane, who has an MMA record of 20-7, being 11-6 inside the UFC, began wrestling at age eight before switching to Muay Thai and boxing, where he competed as an amateur. At the turn of the century, Kampmann started training in submission wrestling before venturing into relatively unexplored MMA.

“The Hitman” made his debut in August 2006, almost 7 exact years before his retirement, with a first-round submission of Crafton Wallace. Kampmann flagged off his drop to Welterweight in 2009 with a Split Decision win over Carlos Condit.

A perennial top 10 fighter, Kampmann gave MMA fans cherished memories with his fights with Drew McFedries, Thiago Alves, Diego Sanchez and Jake Ellenberger. He had this to say in farewell,”I had ups and downs, had some great wins and also had some tough losses, but that’s the name of the game. It’s a volatile game. You can have big upswings and also tough losses.

“But every fight, I always came to fight and I tried to finish the fights. I’ve never been one of the guys that just tried to squeak out a boring win. I went in there to fight. Sometimes that can bite you in the ass too, if you come in with a good game plan but then take a punch and you get too emotional and you want to fight. But I definitely had that desire inside to put on a fight, and I think that showed in my fights.”

Edited by Staff Editor