Mariusz Pudzianowski's MMA Debut To Come In December!

[stxnas]

European Fight Network, Grappling Resource for MMA, submission wrestling and Brazilian jiu jitsu, Jiu-jitsu brésilien, EFN!! - Mariusz Pudzianowski 5-times World's Strongest Man to make MMA debut in December!

Mariusz Pudzianowski 5-times World's Strongest Man to make MMA debut in December! ​

Written by KSW
Thursday, 06 August 2009

​

According to mmarocks.pl Mariusz Pudzianowski 5-times World's Strongest Man signed a contract with Polish premier MMA organization KSW to make his MMA debut in December.

A 32-year-old from Biala Rawska has some martial arts background. Mariusz has been training Karate Kyokushin since 11, he also took up some boxing. He has already started training in Warsaw under Polish MMA pioneer Miroslaw Okninski.

His debut fight will be probably televised by one of the Polish major networks Polsat. Opponent has not yet been named, however KSW signed Polish heavyweight boxer Marcin Najman publicly challenged Mariusz.

KSW (Martial Arts Confrontation) is one of the biggest organizations in Europe. They run two or three shows a year and they have pretty good tv deal with Polsat and Polsat Sport. So far Mamed Khalidov has been their brightest star, however MMA is not really big here, so he is not so popular.

Pudzianowski debut should garner huge media attention in Poland. Mariusz is not only a great athlete, but also a celebrity. He nearly won "Dancing with the Stars" and has appeared in multiple Polish movies and tv shows.

 

[AntonG42O]

great news, but isnt he gonna gas rather quick?? we all know carrying so much muscle and having great cardio at the same time is impossible. this dude is incredibly strong though i cant imagine his grip if you were to start grappling... hes gonna do some damage

 

[bioman]

Gassed or not, I would scream like a little girl if stuck in the ring with Marius.

He's my pick to be a replacement for Arnold for Conan movies.

 

[js2sbr]

Gassed or not, I would scream like a little girl if stuck in the ring with Marius.

x2

I watched him run through events at WSM and there is no denying he has explosive strength. Can't wait to see how this translates in the ring. I would imagine if / when he gets an opponent in a clinch they are gonna get tossed like a ragdoll.

I wonder if he has been brushing up on the ground game.

 

[jay21]

umm M.P. is a quick dude...... he would TRAMP on lesner

 

[jay21]

if he build a decent game, see alot of ppl in US dont know this. but alot i mean alot of eastern european men take fightin classes during their youth, who knows M.P. might be a pretty good fighter. for example there is a GOOD MMA gym in my place ( one of our guys is on the new ultimate fighter comming up in a month) and my EX father used to wrestle sambo back in HS and college and stopped for like 15years. joined the gym and whupped everyones ass.....

 

[VolcomX311]

umm M.P. is a quick dude...... he would TRAMP on lesner

I'd love to see that fight and I disagree with the whole M.P. would TRAMP Lesnar. He might tramp lesnar in a car-dead lift contest, but considering M.P. has no competitive fighting records, your speculation isn't based on anything relevant.

 

[jay21]

i belive i read somehwere M.P did do some kind of fighting before SMan he is just pure power that dude!

 

[VolcomX311]

i belive i read somehwere M.P did do some kind of fighting before SMan he is just pure power that dude!

No doubt, I personally consider M.P. one of, if not thee most bad@$$ dude in terms of strength & power. I also think you make a good point that he may have grown up as a youth practicing Russian Sambo, so I don't think M.P. is all strength no talent. I'm also not saying I don't think M.M. couldn't beat Lesnar, but to start off with the word TRAMP is a bit much, considering M.M. has yet to fight anyone.

 

[VolcomX311]

Now if Fedor took him under his wings.....

 

[AntonG42O]

hahahaha

 

[AntonG42O]

would be killa except they are a little far from one another

 

[Mulletsoldier]

You have to remember that Strongman events are not only strength-based, but often involve high, high, high levels of muscular endurance. MMArtists GPP train by carrying the weight of their opponent around for twenty-five minutes - MP GPP trains by carrying the weight of ten of his opponents around for twenty-five minutes. Speaking strictly from an athletic standpoint, his anaerobic conditioning is perfectly suited for MMA. As for his fighting abilities, I am not going to get too excited until I see something.

 

[AntonG42O]

Yea that is so true, those guys do all the events in one day so they need to have great indurance. I imagine he is gonna have to cut weight? Unless he fights in the SuperHulk LOL he will have to make a 265 limit somewhere.

 

[jay21]

tramp i ment as in strenght wise he wil tramp on lesner. IMO i think it would be a great match, wouldnt it be funny if M.P. beat lesner and became the new champ

 

[VolcomX311]

tramp i ment as in strenght wise he wil tramp on lesner. IMO i think it would be a great match, wouldnt it be funny if M.P. beat lesner and became the new champ

That would be insane. If M.P. received proper training and could box, then both Lesnar and M.P. have a striker's chance against each other for a KO (only Lesnar would have a reach advantage), but most likely the fight would end up on the ground and I'd give that realm to Lesnar hands down. Assuming M.P. did practice Sambo up through high school and even currently, Lesnar's "competitive" D1 wrestling would be a difficult experience gap for M.P. to fill. Not impossible, but not easy.

 

[jay21]

ya but one thing....... M.P. is more massive weight wise then lesner which would give him a more "stability" advantage, but i do admit lesner is a all around champ - he has speed check, he has ground check, he has striking check, he has mass check. there is a reason he is on top ppl just hate to admit it. but lesner is a GREAT fighter

 

[VolcomX311]

ya but one thing....... M.P. is more massive weight wise then lesner which would give him a more "stability" advantage, but i do admit lesner is a all around champ - he has speed check, he has ground check, he has striking check, he has mass check. there is a reason he is on top ppl just hate to admit it. but lesner is a GREAT fighter

People could philosophically argue the validity (or lack thereof) of applying the description of "GREAT fighter" to Lesnar, so whether or not he falls under the popular consensus of what a great fighter is, at the very least and bottom line, Lesnar is a very DANGEROUS fighter.

 

[AntonG42O]

ya but one thing....... M.P. is more massive weight wise then lesner which would give him a more "stability" advantage, but i do admit lesner is a all around champ - he has speed check, he has ground check, he has striking check, he has mass check. there is a reason he is on top ppl just hate to admit it. but lesner is a GREAT fighter

I wouldnt say ground check; the few times we have seen him fight he left himself exposed to subs (Mir - kneebar) and he has no BJJ/sambo/judo background. He could however pull off a neck crank or something from wrestling but I wouldnt give him submission skills for that. His striking is also only a factor because he has elephant sized hands and not because he really knows how to strike.

Guys I hate to sound like a hater, I just cant give him any credit yet. Miguel Torres still gets paid under 50k a fight, in comparison to Lesnar's 3 million. Other guys in the HW division have spent years beating each others faces to sh!t and he gets a title shot after a couple fights. If Frank Mir chose to go into WWE and juice up to 290 lbs + wrestling background then he would be pretty hard to stop as well. I just cant call a guy with 5 fights GREAT or Champion. I am also afraid that guys like him will create a new generation of fighters that will build careers just by being huge and strong. I mean what's next? A 320 lb lumberjack from Finland that wears size 23 shoes and can eat your whole family? Im just a fan and a follower of martial arts and I would hate to see brute strength and size take over skill and technique. Im not even gonna start about his post fight antics.

Just my 2 cents, obviously most people here will disagree, but thats why it is a forum.. so we can discuss things. If you are a Lesnar fan dont take this to heart

 

[Rodja]

I wouldnt say ground check; the few times we have seen him fight he left himself exposed to subs (Mir - kneebar) and he has no BJJ/sambo/judo background. He could however pull off a neck crank or something from wrestling but I wouldnt give him submission skills for that. His striking is also only a factor because he has elephant sized hands and not because he really knows how to strike.

Guys I hate to sound like a hater, I just cant give him any credit yet. Miguel Torres still gets paid under 50k a fight, in comparison to Lesnar's 3 million. Other guys in the HW division have spent years beating each others faces to sh!t and he gets a title shot after a couple fights. If Frank Mir chose to go into WWE and juice up to 290 lbs + wrestling background then he would be pretty hard to stop as well. I just cant call a guy with 5 fights GREAT or Champion. I am also afraid that guys like him will create a new generation of fighters that will build careers just by being huge and strong. I mean what's next? A 320 lb lumberjack from Finland that wears size 23 shoes and can eat your whole family? Im just a fan and a follower of martial arts and I would hate to see brute strength and size take over skill and technique. Im not even gonna start about his post fight antics.

Just my 2 cents, obviously most people here will disagree, but thats why it is a forum.. so we can discuss things. If you are a Lesnar fan dont take this to heart

You give him zero credit for the work he's put in over the past 5 years or so. If huge and strong was the only parameter for a great fighter, than Bob Sapp and Ron Waterman would be elite fighters, but that's not the case. While not the prettiest boxing ever seen, Brock does have a solid straight right hand and good dirty boxing/clinch work. Obviously, his size helps him tremendously, but anyone with that kind of pedigree in a major martial art such as wrestling has a tremendous base. IMO, wrestling (GR, freestyle, or folkstyle) and submission grappling (e.g. ADCC-style) are the 2 best bases for MMA.

Hell look at many of the champions over the past decade:
Couture
Tito
Lesnar
Barnett
Coleman
Rampage
Liddell
Hughes
Randleman
Rashad
Etc

All of them have wrestling bases and there are even more that can be included if you include gi-based BJJ.

 

[Mulletsoldier]

Throw in GSP whose base was not originally wrestling, but whom has crafted the best Wrestling in the game. Hendo as well!

 

[Rodja]

Throw in GSP whose base was not originally wrestling, but whom has crafted the best Wrestling in the game. Hendo as well!

Definitely. Hendo is a prime example of how an elite wrestling game can overcome a size disadvantage.

 

[AntonG42O]

Oh without a doubt wrestling and gi/no-gi are the best bases for MMA, you are exactly right. All I was saying is I want to see him fight more opponents before people start worshiping him. I personally cant stand watching him get a takedown and then rabbit punch to get the ref to stop it. He doesnt try to advance position or throw quality shots, just tries to bully people and make it look like a comlete beatdown. As big as he is, he hasnt put anyone away yet. Mir wasnt KO'd in my opinion and could have maybe survived the smothering. Herring gave Brock his back the whole fight and Brock wouldnt even try to choke him/put hooks in/anything, he would rather "ride the pony" and try to humiliate the opponent after the bell.


By the way 5 or so years ago (2003) Brock was the winner of Royal Rumble his first fight was at K1 in 2007. <3

 

[Rodja]

Oh without a doubt wrestling and gi/no-gi are the best bases for MMA, you are exactly right. All I was saying is I want to see him fight more opponents before people start worshiping him. I personally cant stand watching him get a takedown and then rabbit punch to get the ref to stop it. He doesnt try to advance position or throw quality shots, just tries to bully people and make it look like a comlete beatdown. As big as he is, he hasnt put anyone away yet. Mir wasnt KO'd in my opinion and could have maybe survived the smothering. Herring gave Brock his back the whole fight and Brock wouldnt even try to choke him/put hooks in/anything, he would rather "ride the pony" and try to humiliate the opponent after the bell.


By the way 5 or so years ago (2003) Brock was the winner of Royal Rumble his first fight was at K1 in 2007. <3

He's also been training since late '04/early '05. Herring is a savvy vet that has been only subbed by Nog and Mir was done in that spot. He still has a lot to learn as far as developing a complete game, but he does what every fighter should do: fight within themselves and stick to the gameplan. There is also a lot to be said for accumulating time in the cage since his first 2 fights last ~3 minutes.

 

[VolcomX311]

Oh without a doubt wrestling and gi/no-gi are the best bases for MMA, you are exactly right. All I was saying is I want to see him fight more opponents before people start worshiping him. I personally cant stand watching him get a takedown and then rabbit punch to get the ref to stop it. He doesnt try to advance position or throw quality shots, just tries to bully people and make it look like a comlete beatdown. As big as he is, he hasnt put anyone away yet. Mir wasnt KO'd in my opinion and could have maybe survived the smothering. Herring gave Brock his back the whole fight and Brock wouldnt even try to choke him/put hooks in/anything, he would rather "ride the pony" and try to humiliate the opponent after the bell.


By the way 5 or so years ago (2003) Brock was the winner of Royal Rumble his first fight was at K1 in 2007. <3

He KO'd Couture and the Mir II fight, perhaps Mir was not completely KO'd at that exact moment of stoppage, but he wasn't going anywhere, stoppage was inevitable. Mir also looked like the elephant man after the fight.

I think your giving his first fight/loss too much credit. Amateur fighters with extensive backgrounds & experience in a competitive cage get UFC debut jitters, let alone someone's first MMA fight, ever. Also, you'd be crazy to discount that B.S. stoppage the ref pulled on Lesnar. You could easily argue Mir could have been on his way out prior to getting his ass saved by the ref. Lesnar/Mir II was outrageously one-sided.

Riding the horse and rabbit punching. Doesn't 95% of the fighters try to end a fight with rabbit punches once the opponent is downed and rocked? or simply trapped in a position to be rabbit punched?

Brock's fighting style looks like every other wrestler's style/game plan. I'm not trying to win you over, you can like/dislike anyone obviously, but the things you write off about Brock don't make sense. You seem to hold it against him that he doesn't fight like an Anderson Silva on his feet or a Nick Diaz on the ground. He's a wrestler.

You haven't seen riding the horse until you've watched Ken Shamrock/Joyce Gracie's first fight. I think it was 20min straight of Shamrock laying on top of Joyce. Considering Brock jumped into the MMA game this far evolved, he's actually relatively active on the ground.

 

[TexasTitan]

Power compensates for skill. This guy has a pisston of power. Pretty much the definition of ideal build (for me, not necessarily MMA).

 

[VolcomX311]

I wouldn't want to get punched by that guy.

 

[suncloud]

while i admit brock is on top right now, the strength of marius leads me to think he can get out of a hold very easily. besides, anyone that can gorilla press the champ is a scary mofo....

YouTube - Mariusz Pudzianowski Shoulder Training

 

[stxnas]

Whoever said Pudz once practiced martial arts is correct. I can't recall what kind though. I believe he has some background in boxing too! Anybody who has watched his compete in the strong man competitions have probably noticed that he's pretty nimble for a guy his size too...hell, I read somewhere that he was on the Polish version of Dancing with the Stars and came in second, lol!

 

[Mulletsoldier]

He practiced the same type of Karate as GSP: Kyokushin.

 

[jay21]

yup it was me, i knew it i read his biography somewhere...... he will be deadly if he burshes up on his kyokushin very good form of karate indeed. man i xcited to see him fight though it might be months before we see anything

 

[VolcomX311]

This is what would happen if a school bus ran into Mariusz

 

[Tomahawk88]

This is what would happen if a school bus ran into Mariusz

LMAO that bit went flying :laugh2:

 

[jas123]

You have to remember that Strongman events are not only strength-based, but often involve high, high, high levels of muscular endurance. MMArtists GPP train by carrying the weight of their opponent around for twenty-five minutes - MP GPP trains by carrying the weight of ten of his opponents around for twenty-five minutes. Speaking strictly from an athletic standpoint, his anaerobic conditioning is perfectly suited for MMA. As for his fighting abilities, I am not going to get too excited until I see something.

While the first part is true, I don't think his strongman training will translate to MMA endurance too well. Even when my cardio is all the way for competitions, my lungs would be on fire after hitting a heavy bag for even 1 minute.

Here's why I don't see Marius doing much besides freakshow fights:

1. Too old with too much wear-and-tear on the body - Strongman's brutal and he's had plenty of injuries. He's going to have trouble staying healthy while training hard. Also, he's early thirties and doesn't have a base like Lesnar. I know he's a BJJ purple belt and has boxed, but absorption rate and instinctual reactions are not the same as you get older.

2. He's too short for his weight. If boxing is his strength, he doesn't have the reach for it at HW or SHW at only 5'11". His best bet is to be a Jeff Monson type, but he doesn't have the base for it.

3. Testing? If not, 310 is way too heavy for him to fight at and have the necessary cardio and agility. MMA agility is much more demanding than strongman agility.

I think it's awesome that he's doing it, but don't expect much. Marius is one of the greatest strongmen ever (maybe the best, but he never did as well in heavier contests like IFSA events) so he might as well try a new sport.

 

[VolcomX311]

I didn't want to say anything because I've been putting in too much over-time with Tarzan swings off Brock's nuts lately, so without Mullet'ing on, I'll just say I tend to agree with your assessment.


YouTube - MIKE EPPS Baby Powder

 

[LactoseLou]

Anyone seen video of him hitting the punching bag or doing karate? I remember seeing him doing some karate demo before.