Martin Kampmann has Retired

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UFC welterweight Martin Kampmann announced today he is retiring from the sport to focus on his family after a stint coaching at Team Alpha Male.

Kampmann, 33, told UFC.com the recent birth of his third child motivated him to move back to his native Denmark. While he plans to stay involved in the sport, his fighting days are over.

“I’ve known for a while,” Kampmann said. “I just haven’t really made it official. I’m not sure why.”

Kampmann (20-7 MMA, 11-6 UFC) retires with a 20-7 record and 17 UFC bouts. He delivered wins over several notable opponents, among them recent title challenger and former interim champ Carlos Condit, Thiago Alves and Jake Ellenberger.

A longtime standout of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Kampmann won his first four UFC bouts and engaged in memorable slugfests with Alves and Diego Sanchez. Against Condit and Ellenberger, he denied title hopefuls a pass to contention. Condit was a champion in the now-defunct WEC and was anticipated to make a run in the welterweight division before losing to Kampmann by split decision in a 2009 bout.

A rematch four years later against Condit served as Kampmann’s final appearance. Condit unleashed a flurry of elbows and punches to earn a fourth-round TKO finish. It was Kampmann’s second consecutive knockout loss after being stopped in 46 seconds by now-former champion Johny Hendricks.

In January 2014, Kampmann announced he would take a hiatus from fighting as burnout and damage from multiple concussions mounted. He said he was not ready to retire, however.

Kampmann eventually shifted focus to working with other fighters, moving in September 2014 from Las Vegas to Sacramento, Calif., to take a full-time job as a coach at Team Alpha Male. His arrival came after a contentious period in the team’s history; a public feud between team founder Urijah Faber and head coach Duane Ludwig dominated headlines. After 11 months, Kampmann announced he was stepping down from the job for personal reasons.

Kampmann also flirted with professional gambling, winning the Nevada Poker Challenge and outlasting several pros in the 2014 World Series of Poker.

Now focused on renovating his house in Denmark and raising three children, Kampmann has plenty to keep himself occupied.

“I had a lot of good fights,” he said. “Some of the good fights that the fans tell me they enjoyed the most are the fights where I’ve been in really bad trouble and came back. I was really hurt, knocked down, and I came back from the brink of defeat to win. But those are not the fights I preferred to have. I preferred to come in and have a good, dominant performance. But those other fights are the ones that the fans remember, when I was close to defeat and when I had to dig deep and come back and win.”

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Thoughts?

Great career, We know it was over when he said he want a break, but he can retire proud of what he accomplish.

His fight with Thiago Alves was god-like. Sad to see him walk away.

* Edited at 01.06.2016, 3:51 PM ET *

Probably a smart move, he took a ****ton of damage. Was always an exciting fighter though, and a high rank welterweight. Who's coaching striking at Team Alpha Male now anyway? That's becoming the MMA equivalent of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers.

Yeah and don't forget he started out in the UFC as a mw. He had some great battles. His fight against terry Martin was awesome and that head and arm choke technique was incredible to watch. It was a step by step how to sink that choke. 

Sorry, I meant drew mcfedries.

* Edited at 01.07.2016, 11:31 AM ET *

That submission on McFedries was one of the first MMA submissions I ever saw, now that I think about it.

It was cool because it was basically a step by step. He got position, deceptively set up the choke, then set it up focusing on the choke first, and after he had it in he hopped over, readjusted, and flexed.

I´m glad for him, sad for me but it was his time, I´ve been a fan of his for a long   time, but altely he was in a few tough battles that he didn´t look much like his old self. I think i saw somewere that he was training fighters. thats good