UFC 154: November 17, 2012 Montreal, Quebec, Canada UFC Welterweight Contender Johny Hendricks (-115) Profile: Johny Hendricks (13-1) is riding a four-fight winning streak following a controversial split decision victory against fellow welterweight contender Josh Koscheck May 5 at UFC on FOX 3. The 28-year-old was a two-time NCAA wrestling champion at Oklahoma State and previously knocked out Koscheck’s teammate Jon Fitch in just 12 seconds at UFC 141 last December 30. The only loss for Hendricks in his MMA career came by unanimous decision against Rick Story at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale on December 4, 2010. He is 8-1 in the UFC overall with half of the wins resulting in a KO/TKO and three of them ending in the first round. Two of his past four fights have earned Knockout of the Night honors. UFC Welterweight Contender Martin Kampmann (-115) Profile: Martin Kampmann (20-5) has gotten back on track with three straight wins after losing two in a row for the first time in his MMA career. The 30-year-old Danish fighter is coming off an impressive second-round knockout of Jake Ellenberger at The Ultimate Fighter 15 Finale on June 1 after it looked like he would be the victim early on. Kampmann previously earned Submission of the Night honors after beating Thaigo Alves via guillotine choke on March 3 in Sydney, Australia. His previous win before that came against Story by unanimous decision at UFC 139 last November 19. Those two wins followed a pair of decision losses to Diego Sanchez and Jake Shields, with the former named Fight of the Night as the main event of the UFC Live card. Kampmann is 11-4 in the UFC overall and previously competed at middleweight before moving to welterweight following a first-round TKO loss to Nate Marquardt at UFC 88. Opening UFC 154 Odds Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas has made this a Pick’em fight with both Hendricks and Kampmann opening at -115 (bet $115 to win $100). The winner of this bout will be next in line for the UFC welterweight title after champion Georges St. Pierre and interim title holder Carlos Condit square off later this year. Kampmann is the last man to defeat Condit, but that win came more than three years ago, and he has gone 5-3 since then. If Kampmann had come into this fight on a longer winning streak, he would probably be favored against Hendricks. But Hendricks has been more dominant in his wins and will enter the Octagon as the hotter fighter, and the main reason he is not favored is due to a lack of experience. The MMA odds suggest a very even fight, and this matchup should be very competitive and entertaining with a stoppage more than likely to be the end result. Just four of Kampmann’s 20 wins have been decisions compared to five of 13 for Hendricks. The two have combined for 15 knockouts and eight submissions in 33 combined wins with Kampmann responsible for eight and seven of those, respectively. In the MMA OddsBreaker MMA Fighter Rankings, Hendricks is ranked No. 3 at welterweight while Kampmann moved up to No. 6 with his win over Ellenberger.
