Martin Kampmann on Refusing TJ Grant Fight at TUF 9 Finale

Published on: 21st May, 2009

Martin Kampmann on Refusing TJ Grant Fight at TUF 9 Finale  | read this item

Yesterday there was a report that Welterweights Martin Kampmann was expected to meet TJ Grant at The Ultimate Fighter season 9 finale on June 20th from Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, Grant was the only fighter to agree to the bout and Kampmann refused due to the fact that he feels he should face a high step up in competition. But ‘The Hitman’ explains why he passed up the opportunity.

In a new interview with Versus.com Kampmann says that he doesn’t mean any disrespect towards the Canadian, but feels that he should be facing the top guys in the UFC Welterweight division.

“No disrespect to T.J. Grant, but I don’t think it’s a fight that makes any sense for me at the moment. I want to fight some higher ranked guys. I never even knew who the guy was, and he’s probably a tough guy. But I want to fight guys who make sense for me and who can escalate me up the ladder more, so I didn’t accept that fight. I don’t know what happened, but apparently some miscommunication somewhere because I saw it all over the Internet…. If I’m thinking with my b*lls, I’ll take any fight that comes up. But I got to be smart about my career and take the fights that make sense for me, and I don’t think that fight makes sense for me at this time. Maybe when he gets some more wins in the UFC and builds up some good wins in the UFC, then maybe will meet somewhere along the road later.”

Kampmann makes a legitimate point in wanting to face tougher competition at 170 pounds ever since he racked a win over former WEC Welterweight champion Carlos Condit at last month’s UFC Fight Night 18 event which put him in the top ten of the rankings at 170 pounds.

As for Grant it appears that he will still be apart of the TUF 9 finale card, but the organization still has to seek out another opponent in Kampmann’s, but with a couple of wins over good competition in the UFC Welterweight division may someday indeed give Grant a matchup against Kampmann or anybody tougher down the line.

 Nelson Rodriguez AKA: Nelo2.0 is the Co - Owner of URDirt.com who is also an Editor and Author on the site. Read more from this author

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