Mixed Martial Arts Career
He is currently fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he made his debut at UFC Fight Night 6 as a late replacement for Kalib Starnes. In his debut fight with the UFC, Kampmann defeated Crafton Wallace by first-round submission. His next victory came by way of unanimous decision over future top contender Thales Leites in The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale on November 11, 2006. At UFC 68, After being rocked and knocked down numerous times Kampmann showed his toughness and resilience by defeating Drew McFedries via arm-triangle choke late in the first round.
His next UFC fight was scheduled for UFC 72 against former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin, but he was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury. Kampmann returned from his injury at UFC 85, where he defeated the heavy handed Jorge Rivera by guillotine choke at 2:44 in the first round.
After a first round TKO defeat to Nate Marquardt at UFC 88, Kampmann announced that he would drop down to the welterweight division. He made his debut in the division at UFC 93 defeating newcomer Alexandre Barros by TKO in the second round. Kampmann then defeated the last reigning WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit in a closely contested fight via split decision in the main event of UFC Fight Night 18.
Kampmann was to fight Mike Swick on September 19, 2009 at UFC 103. The winner was to receive a title shot against Georges St. Pierre. On September 4, it was announced that Swick had suffered an injury while training for their upcoming bout. Paul Daley replaced Swick for the fight. With Swick pulling out, the fight was not for the No. 1 contender spot anymore as Daley was making his UFC debut. In a surprising turn of events Kampmann fell to the Brit by TKO due to punches just 2:31 into the bout.
Kampmann was expected to face Rory Markham on January 2, 2010 at UFC 108. However, Markham was forced out of the bout with an injry an replaced by Jacob Volkmann. Kampmann won via first round submission using a modified guillotine choke that he calls the "Deathchoke".
Kampmann was scheduled to face Ben Saunders at UFC 111., but was forced off the card with an injury and replaced by Jake Ellenberger.
Kampmann's next fight was against Paulo Thiago at UFC 115. Kampmann controlled and dominated Thiago en route to a unanimous decision victory by a score of 30-27 on all three judges scorecards.
Kampmann faced former EliteXC Welterweight Champion and former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion and UFC debutant Jake Shields in a title eliminator bout, on October 23, 2010 at UFC 121. He lost a controversial split decision to Shields.
Kampmann then lost another controversial decision to Diego Sanchez on March 3, 2011 at UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann. The bout saw Kampmann outstrike and stagger Diego over 3 rounds (including dropping Sanchez with a punch in the 1st round), with Diego's relentless pace and aggression giving him the nod on all 3 scorecards. Kampmann stopped 14 out of Diego's 15 takedown attempts, and also out-landed him 79-51 in total strikes (according to FightMetric who scored the fight 29-28 Kampmann). The bout earned Fight of the Night honors.
Kampmann was expected to face John Howard on June 26, 2011 at UFC on Versus 4 However, Kampmann was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Matt Brown.
Kampmann defeated Rick Story via unanimous decision on November 19, 2011 at UFC 139. Although the initial result was announced as a split decision, UFC president Dana White clarified at the post-fight press conference that all three judges had scored the match in favor of Kampmann.
Kampmann then faced former #1 contender Thiago Alves on March 3, 2012 at UFC on FX 2. After being rocked late, Kampmann latched a guillotine choke onto Alves with one minute remaining in the third round, forcing him to tap. For his performance, Kampmann was awarded Submission of the Night honors.
Kampmann faced Jake Ellenberger on June 1, 2012 at The Ultimate Fighter: Live Finale. After a first round which saw Kampmann nearly finished after being knocked down by Ellenberger, Kampmann defeated Ellenberger via second round KO due to a series of knees. The performance also earned Kampmann Knockout of the Night honors.
Kampmann faced Johny Hendricks on November 17, 2012 at UFC 154. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.
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