In case you somehow managed to avoid the news: legendary Polish strongman competitor Mariusz Pudzianowski made his MMA debut at KSW 12 in Warsaw today, taking on Marcin “El Testosteron” Najman. The fight had massive buzz in Poland – it even made the evening news on Polsat – and record-setting ratings are expected when the numbers are tallied.
So how did the beloved Pudzian fare? Well, apart from his wacky attempt at “boxing” in the first 15 seconds of the bout, about as well as one could have hoped. Pudzianowski used his massive tree trunks legs to chop the base out from beneath Najman, sending the former pro boxer stumbling across the ring. From there, it was just a matter of pounding away with brutal hammerfists until the terrified ref jumped in for the stoppage.
Where the strongman’s MMA career goes from here is anyone’s guess, but from the sound of Pudzianowski’s post-fight comment, this wasn’t just a one-off thing.
Big props to MMArocks.pl for all of their coverage of this fight.