By Katrina Belcher (KatrinaBelcher@mmaratings.net)
If you haven’t heard his name yet – hopefully you will some day soon. Mariusz Pudzianowski has been known for his strong man feats in Europe for quite some time.
To date, Mariusz Pudzianowski. has won the “World’s Strongest Man” event five times more than anyone else in history. Like Chuck Liddell, he competed on the Polish version of “Dancing with the Stars”! Mariusz “Puddin” Pudzianowski was even in a rock band called the Pudzian Band, which was well-known in Europe for their hit single “Zdoby? ?wiat”.
Now he’s recently made the decision to begin fighting as a professional mixed martial arts competitor. At an event held by a Polish MMA promoter, Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki, better known by its acronym, KSW, Pudzianowski, fought and beat fellow MMA newcomer Marcin Najman in a heavyweight match-up.
Held in Warsaw, Poland, these two fighters each debuted as the headliners for KSW XII. KSW is widely considered the premiere MMA organization in Poland. Weighing in at 320 lbs., Mariusz won the fight in 0:43 of the first round by tap-out due to punches.
Before we go assuming Mariusz Pudzianowski of being a WWE-like convert, consider that apart from fighting in the WSM, Pudzianowski is also a fourth kyu green belt in Kyokushin kaikan karate, and has also trained as an amateur boxer. So – there’s a bit more there than meets the eye. I’m sure once he hits MMA-America, accusations of steroid abuse will abound, but I am personally hoping he doesn’t use them.
According to Wikipedia.com, Najim is a professional heavyweight boxer, who has also competed in KSW. If you’d like to enjoy watching the fight, you can watch the Puddin vs. Najman MMA debut below:
I think Brock Lesnar may have met his match. Granted, Brock’s early wrestling career in high school, where he gained an impressive 33-0-0 record, combined with his college wrestling years, WWE record and recent MMA wins against Heath Herring, Randy Couture and Frank Mir, put him at the top of his game. But have you seen Mariusz? Watch the video – I still think Puddin will give him the challenge he’s been looking for in MMA.
Speaking of Brock Lesnar – I do hope he gets well soon. As most MMA fans know, Lesnar was taken ill on October 26, 2009. It was then announced that he would be forced to pull out of the UFC 106 card, where he was set to face Shane Carwin for the UFC Heavyweight Championship, due to that illness.
It appears that upon further diagnosis, on November 16th, Lesnar underwent surgery to close a perforation in his intestine that had been leaking fecal matter into his abdomen, causing pain, abscesses, and overtaxing his immune system to the point that he contracted mononucleosis. From the level of damage to Lesnar’s system, the surgeon estimated that the intestinal condition had been ongoing for around a year. Very painful – so I hope he’s doing better now.
Interesting that Lesnar faced Randy Couture at UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar, on November 15, 2008 – just about a year prior to his diagnosis. I’d be curious to find out if there’s a possibility the damage could have been caused during that fight? Perforated intestines can be caused by several things, but one of them includes "traumatic injury" – so maybe this injury happened during UFC 91? I’m sure we’ll never know.
For more info: Visit Puddin’s official website, in Polish. Visit Najman’s official website, also in Polish.
