Kampmann, Others Impress at UFC Fight Night 18

Yet another installment of the UFC’s popular (and free!) Fight Night events has gone by, and while there weren’t any earth-shattering events that will rearrange the title picture in any particular weight class, there were some great fights and interesting outcomes.

Martin Kampmann was very impressive in his win over former WEC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit.  Condit was favored due to having what was considered to be a better all-around skill set, but Kampmann showed just how far his ground game has come during the decision victory.  Highlights for Kampmann included sinking in what appeared to be a tight guillotine choke in the first round, escaping a rear naked choke from Condit, and landing some nice ground and pound offense in the final round.

There used to be a time when Kampmann was only feared for his standup, but he has worked hard to become a complete fighter.  The victory over Condit shows just how well-rounded he has become, and he looks much better at 170 pounds than at 185, where he was often dwarfed by larger fighters like Drew McFedries and Nate Marquardt.  Kampmann is definitely a force in the welterweight division.  Fights against tough welterweights like Marcus Davis or Chris Lytle would yield Fight of the Year potential, and show whether he’s ready to enter title contention or not.

The flipside of the coin is that Condit must now “get back on the horse” and try to build a winning streak in the UFC, after losing his debut in the premier organization of mixed martial arts.  It would be stupid to discount his previous wins, as Frank Trigg, John Alessio and Brock Larson are UFC-level competitors.  Obviously, this one just didn’t go Condit’s way, and he soon will be back to proving that he’s just as good as everyone previously thought.

Watching Ryan Bader develop, meanwhile, is similar to watching Matt Hughes or even Josh Koscheck in the early stages of their careers.  You can occasionally see that Bader has already learned a lot more than he previously had shown in the stand-up and submission realms, but he is having trouble tying it all together so that he can finish tough opponents.  Still, with most competitors, his wrestling and athleticism will allow him to get by while the rest of his game develops.  He’s already shown that he can pack a lot of power in his strikes, and his submission skills should come along soon enough.

Meanwhile, Tyson Griffin added yet another Fight of the Night award to his resume after a thrilling, back and forth fight with Rafael dos Anjos, which was much closer than the 30-27 scorecards would normally indicate.  With an unorthodox calf slicer, dos Anjos had Griffin hobbling in rounds one and two before he seemed to recover for the final round.  Why didn’t dos Anjos kick Griffin’s leg more, especially when he was obviously hurt in the first round?  Only dos Anjos knows the answer to that, but he still put up an impressive performance against the tough lightweight.  Hopefully, his great performance will get him at least one more chance to get in the “W” column in the UFC.

“Who’s overrated now?” yelled Cole Miller in the face of Junie Browning after dominating their short fight and finishing with a tight guillotine choke.  Apparently, Miller had not gotten over Browning’s rather understated (for him anyway) comments regarding Miller’s jiu jitsu abilities in the pre-fight hype.  Miller had been angered by Browning’s admission that he was unimpressed by Miller’s submission win over Jorge Gurgel, as Browning felt that Gurgel had lost more due to a mistake on his part than by any special maneuvering by Miller. 

At any rate, Miller was more than willing to shut up the TUF Season 8 veteran, even though he seems to have toned down his crazy personality since getting off the show and joining Xtreme Couture.  The post-fight trash talk was the first of its kind since the tumultuous conclusion to the fight between Louisiana rivals Rich Clementi and Melvin Guillard at UFC 79.  In a way, Browning’s cool-headed reaction to the show of disrespect may help his cause, as it shows how much he has changed since the show.  It’s hard to imagine the “old Junie” not blowing up at being disrespected in such a way immediately after a loss.

 by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com

Tags: Carlos Condit, Chris Lytle, Josh Koscheck, Martin Kampmann, Matt Hughes, Melvin Guillard, UFC, WEC