We haven’t heard a peep out of Martin Kampmann since he was once-punched KOed by Johny Hendricks at UFC 154, but today his next fight was finally announced. FOXSports.com confirmed today that the main event of UFC on FOX Sports 1 2 will be a five-round welterweight battle between the top-10 ranked Kampmann and Carlos Condit, a fight that is sure to be one the short list for “Fight of the Year” once it’s all said and done. This is the right fight to make for a number of reasons. First off, both men are coming off of losses to the same man, Hendricks, and both guys need a win badly to remain in the title picture. Although Condit has drawn the praise of UFC president Dana White for his always-exciting fights, he has lost two-straight decisions to Hendricks and UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and needs to get back in the win column if he’s ever to get a rematch with GSP. As for Kampmann, it seems he’s become a forgotten man in the UFC welterweight division even though he already holds a win over Condit as well as a win over Jake Ellenberger, who is another top contender in the division. So it makes a lot of sense to match these two up, and it makes a lot of sense to throw them in the main event of a free TV card because they will definitely put on a good show for the fans in Indianapolis, Indiana, who were robbed of a good show when Frank Mir and Mirko Cro Cop put on a stinker in the main event of UFC 119 back in September 2010, the only other show the UFC has held in the Hoosier state. The second reason why this fight makes sense is because, like I mentioned, Kampmann has already defeated Condit and now “The Natural Born Killer” wants his revenge. The two headlined UFC Fight Night 18 in April 2009 and although many believed that Condit had done enough to win the fight, the judges awarded Kampmann the split decision with the scores reading 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28 in favor of “The Hitman.” So now Condit gets an opportunity to prove he is the better fighter, and Kampmann gets the opportunity to show that the judges didn’t make a mistake awarding him the decision the first time around. As far as the odds for this fight goes, it should be fairly competitive, but I personally cap Condit at -200 and if he opens at anything lower than that I will be betting on him. That’s not to say that Kampmann can’t beat him — he certainly has the tools to do so — but I think Condit is just the better all-around fighter at this point in time and I think this is a great matchup for him as far as styles go since he doesn’t have to worry about Kampmann taking him down. And on that point, don’t be surprised if you see Condit take Kampmann down to prove to everyone that his wrestling is improving. This is a terrific matchup and it should be one of the best fights of the summer, and I can’t wait for it to go down.
