Eddie Hall is set to make his full MMA debut in Poland next month against fellow World’s Strongest Man champion Mariusz Pudzianowski.
Strongman Hall fought two brothers at once in a ‘freak fight’ last year, knocking out both of them in the final round of a farcical bout. He has since been keen to have a legitimate fight, and has settled on Pudzianowski as his opponent.
The Polish powerhouse is a five-time winner of World’s Strongest Man, but has spent the last 15 years building himself into a contender for the KSW heavyweight title. He used to tip the scales over 320lb, but has since been getting under the 265lb limit for championship fights.
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Eddie Hall vs Mariusz Pudzianowski booked for KSW 105
Eddie Hall took to his YouTube channel today to let fans know that he has signed up to face Mariusz Pudzianowski on KSW 105. The event takes place on April 26 at the PreZero Arena in Gliwice, Poland which can hold as many as 30,000 fans.
Hall initially called out Pudzianowski last year after his 2v1 ‘freak fight’ with the featherweight Neffati Brothers. However, it has taken a while for the deal to come to fruition with KSW now finally booking it in for a major event.
Hall has also confirmed that the bout will have slightly modified rules, including the rounds only being four minutes in length. He pushed for just two minutes given his inexperience, while Pudzianowski wanted legitimate professional rules of five.
Speaking in a YouTube video, Hall said: “The fight is on. I have been talking about fighting Maruisz Pudzianowski for years. He is five-times World’s Strongest Man and he retired back in 2009 to become a professional MMA fighter.
“He’s had a 16-year career fighting in MMA, I think he’s had something like 27 fights [he has had 26]… Quite a decent winning/lose ratio.”
Eddie Hall and Mariusz Pudzianowski have very different fighting backgrounds
Hall is under no illusions that his Polish rival has considerably more experience in the cage than him, which is likely what has halted their progress in making a deal up to this point. He has fought just twice at all in his life; a boxing loss to Hafthor Bjornsson and last year’s ‘Freak fight’.
The Brit is 11 years Pudzianowski’s junior at 37-years-old, and is likely to keep on a lot of his size after his rival’s years of trimming down. In the video, Hall noted that he is currently 164kg, or around 362lb. He plans to get down to 150kg or 330lb, having previously fought at 367lb in the much shorter fight.
Meanwhile, Pudzianowski’s last weigh-in for a fight in June of 2023 saw him tip the scales at 116.7kg, or just over 257lb. His career-heaviest for a fight was in May of 2010 when he weighed 283lb. As such, it is expected that the bout will be a rare super-heavyweight contest, which are almost unheard of in MMA.