During his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) tenure, Martin Kampmann has come short four time inside the Octagon.
Of those four losses, three of the men who beat him would go on or had challenged for a world title.
It's safe to say on the off-chance "The Hitman" loses, it will be only to the best.
He started his career off at 185-pounds and found great success, losing only once until Nate Marquardt essentially Killer Instinct'ed the Denmark native to welterweight.
Since then, he's gone 6-3, with two of the loses coming by way of questionable judges' decisions.
Tonight, he finds himself stacked up against Jake Ellenberger in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter Live Finale in a bout which may very well determine who takes on Welterweight Interim Champion Carlos Condit.
The Omaha-born wrestler finds himself in the headlining bout after stopping Jake Shields in less than a minute and outlasting Diego Sanchez for three rounds.
Kampmann is there thanks to wins over Rick Story and Thiago Alves.
Before the two collide, let's take a look at "The Hitman's" victory over Drew McFedries back in 2007 at UFC 68, a forgotten classic comeback the Dane unleashed on his opponent.
Let's go.
Both fighters meet in the center of the cage and the American begins to push the pedal.
He lands a nice right hand and follows it up with a uppercut which grazes Kampmann's nose. A head kick from the Dane backs McFedries up but not for long.
He connects with a left hand and forces his opponent to eat a counter right. Another solid right smacks Kampmann on the jaw and staggers him. The follow-up left drops "The Hitman" to the mat, much to the delight of the Columbus, OH audience.
The American follows his dazed foe to the mat and attempts to unload with ground and pound but the Dane is quick to defend, taking minimal damage until McFedries stands back up to continue the assault on his feet.
The same right hook lands for the American as Kampmann continues to back up. McFedries is controlling the pace of the fight and forcing his opponent to abandon his own gameplan to fight the American's fight.
The right hook finally misses its mark for "The Massacre" but the ensuing straight left snaps Kampmann's head back and he is forced to circle around circle to avoid getting pinned up against the cage. A little over a minute into the bout and it seems the fight is McFedries' for the taking.
The American throws a giant haymaker but it's blocked by "The Hitman" who soon after responds with a duo of punches which land solidly and forces his opponent to take a step back.
Seconds later, McFedries is able to trap Kampmann along the cage and it becomes obvious why the Dane attempted to avoid this situation earlier. "The Massacre" brutalizes his opponent against the cage, landing another right hook and again following it up with the left straight.
Kampmann's face, already bruised and swelling from the damage he's taken, takes more of a shellacking as McFedries unloads on him for several seconds. What saves the Dane is a solid knee he lands which forces the American back.
He follows McFedries across the Octagon and clinches up with him before securing a takedown thanks to a bodylock.
Landing in sidemount, he slowly attempts to advance into full mount but McFedries blocks him from doing so. Jockeying for position on the mount , Kampmann begins dropping short elbows across his opponent's skull and driving knees into his ribs.
The entire time, "The Hitman" is slowly snaking his arms around McFedries' arm and neck. It's a move only the most seasoned Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) players can spot in real time and the arm-triangle choke gets sunk in so quickly, the American barely has any time to react.
Within seconds, he's unconscious.
Getting battered on his feet, Kampmann realized the best option was for him to take the fight to the mat. Fight IQ is a highly underrated quality but "The Hitman" showed it off in spades during this bout.
If the heavy-handed Ellenberger lands a few solid shots, Kampmann may have to rely on the gameplan for a second time in his career.
The question is: if necessary, could he pull it off?
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