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The last we heard from Polish strongman turned MMA fighter Mariusz Pudzianowski we reported on his proposed US debut against former UFC champ Tim Sylvia. That was until I entered my local newsstand to see him leering at me from the cover of a MMA magazine (see photo) calling out current UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. Clearly, Pudzianowski has every reason to want to break into the lucrative US marketplace though I’m not sure the fight sport equivilaent of jumping in front of a speeding semi on the freeway is the best way to go about it.
Whether or not the Sylvia fight comes to fruition, Pudzianowski already has a future opponent. He’s signed to meet another Polish sports star, Robert Paczków, in Katowice, Poland on May 7th. Paczków is definitely a good match in terms of experience–he’s 1-0 in his MMA career with a win over James McSweeney (who would later be a cast member on ‘The Ultimate Fighter). Paczków will be an interesting test since he’s not only a big dude himself going 6?2? 310 but has a background in Greco-Roman wrestling and sumo.
But ‘Puddin’ has already set his sights higher. Much higher. He’d already called out WAMMA Heavyweight Champion and the best heavyweight MMA fighter on the planet, Fedor Emelianenko. Now he apparently wants to fight UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar. There’s always the chance that he made this challenge during Lesnar’s well publicized health issues, but that’s most likely not the case. I guess the old line about ‘your mouth writing checks your body can’t cash’ doesn’t translate into Polish.
Superficially, there’s at least *some* similarity between Pudzianowski and Lesnar–both made their bones in dubious pseudo-sports. Brock Lesnar rose to fame and fortune in the WWE, while Pudzianowski became the Lance Armstrong of the World’s Strongest Man competition. That’s where the similarities end. We can all agree that Pudzianowski is a big, powerful dude. But so is Lesnar. Lesnar is also a former NCAA wrestling champion who finished his college career with a record of 106–5. He’s also a guy that almost made an NFL team as a walk on despite not having played football since high school. And lest we forget, he’s the UFC heavyweight champion.
Pudzianowski looks like he’s taking the promotional strategy used by German-Polish boxer Dariusz Michalczewski during his prime. Michalczewski was a decent fighter, but received more press for continually calling out Roy Jones, Jr. than for anything he did in the ring. His act went like this–Michalczewski would call out RJ. At the time, Jones was on top of the boxing world so his people would suggest a fight in Las Vegas. Michalczewski would refuse and insist they fight in Germany, and then crow that Jones was ‘ducking’ him. That could be what Pudzianowski is trying to do–he can call out Lesnar, Fedor, etc. but refuse to fight them outside of Poland. He can then claim to his fans in Poland that these monsters are ‘afraid’ of him.
At this point, Pudzianowski would be better served worrying about Robert Paczków and/or Tim Sylvia. He wants nothing to do with Fedor and Lesnar, and definitely not in the short term. Still, you never know–particularly in Fedor’s case since he could headline a DREAM event in Japan fighting a mop–it could happen.[/i]
Whether or not the Sylvia fight comes to fruition, Pudzianowski already has a future opponent. He’s signed to meet another Polish sports star, Robert Paczków, in Katowice, Poland on May 7th. Paczków is definitely a good match in terms of experience–he’s 1-0 in his MMA career with a win over James McSweeney (who would later be a cast member on ‘The Ultimate Fighter). Paczków will be an interesting test since he’s not only a big dude himself going 6?2? 310 but has a background in Greco-Roman wrestling and sumo.
But ‘Puddin’ has already set his sights higher. Much higher. He’d already called out WAMMA Heavyweight Champion and the best heavyweight MMA fighter on the planet, Fedor Emelianenko. Now he apparently wants to fight UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar. There’s always the chance that he made this challenge during Lesnar’s well publicized health issues, but that’s most likely not the case. I guess the old line about ‘your mouth writing checks your body can’t cash’ doesn’t translate into Polish.
Superficially, there’s at least *some* similarity between Pudzianowski and Lesnar–both made their bones in dubious pseudo-sports. Brock Lesnar rose to fame and fortune in the WWE, while Pudzianowski became the Lance Armstrong of the World’s Strongest Man competition. That’s where the similarities end. We can all agree that Pudzianowski is a big, powerful dude. But so is Lesnar. Lesnar is also a former NCAA wrestling champion who finished his college career with a record of 106–5. He’s also a guy that almost made an NFL team as a walk on despite not having played football since high school. And lest we forget, he’s the UFC heavyweight champion.
Pudzianowski looks like he’s taking the promotional strategy used by German-Polish boxer Dariusz Michalczewski during his prime. Michalczewski was a decent fighter, but received more press for continually calling out Roy Jones, Jr. than for anything he did in the ring. His act went like this–Michalczewski would call out RJ. At the time, Jones was on top of the boxing world so his people would suggest a fight in Las Vegas. Michalczewski would refuse and insist they fight in Germany, and then crow that Jones was ‘ducking’ him. That could be what Pudzianowski is trying to do–he can call out Lesnar, Fedor, etc. but refuse to fight them outside of Poland. He can then claim to his fans in Poland that these monsters are ‘afraid’ of him.
At this point, Pudzianowski would be better served worrying about Robert Paczków and/or Tim Sylvia. He wants nothing to do with Fedor and Lesnar, and definitely not in the short term. Still, you never know–particularly in Fedor’s case since he could headline a DREAM event in Japan fighting a mop–it could happen.[/i]
