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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Neither Johny Hendricks or Martin Kampmann will be waiting out a title shot in the UFC's welterweight division, as UFC President Dana White on Friday night revealed that the organization plans to pit the two against one another later this year.
Both fighters worked their way into the title conversation in the last month; Hendricks with a decision win over Josh Koscheck at UFC on Fox 3 - following up on a win over Koscheck's friend and teammate Jon Fitch - and Kampmann with his knockout win over Jake Ellenberger last week at The Ultimate Fighter Finale. However, the UFC wasn't going to have either of them sit on the sidelines for an extended period of time.
According to White, following the UFC on FX 3 post-fight press conference, Hendricks and Kampmann will likely square off in November at UFC 154 in Montreal, the same card tentatively scheduled to hold the Championship unification bout between Carlos Condit and Georges St-Pierre. The winners of those two fights will then meet in 2013 in the next Welterweight Championship fight.
Penick's Analysis: This is the move that makes the most sense. When Kampmann pulled off his KO over Ellenberger last week, it immediately made sense to put him against Hendricks considering how far away the next title bout still is. Putting them both on this card means the UFC can (hopefully) book the next fight in much quicker succession than we've had between title fights this time around.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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