Kampmann has a lesson for young fighters: Limit hard sparring

Precious little is known about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). It’s not known if it’s caused by a relatively few major episodes of head trauma, or years of relatively light sub-concussive insults, or both.

All that is known conclusively is that it is a problem. In the absence of definitive scientific research, it is reasonable to look to progressive coaches for some direction, particularly those with intimate experiences with head trauma.

On January 9, 2014 Danish UFC fighter Martin Kampmann said he was taking a break from fighting, after suffering multiple concussions. He said at the time that he was not retiring, but on January 6, 2016, the fighter made his retirement from fighting official.

Kampmann appeared recently on MMAjunkie Radio and offered some simple direction.

I think if I could give any advice to younger fighters, probably limit your hard sparring, said Kampmann, as transcribed by Brent Brookhouse for MMAJunkie. I stopped because I didn’t want to get any more concussions because that will mess with your head a little bit. I had a couple of fights where I wasn’t giving myself enough time to heal up before I took the next fight. I think that messed me up, for sure.

Kampmann came to the understanding the hard way, and is not the same as he used to be.

I feel healthy as long as I get my sleep, said Kampmann. I’ve been down to the gym, but if I do five rounds of sparring, I’ll get a headache. That’s why I don’t go spar. … When you start having headaches from little things, that’s a good sign you’ve been pushing it.