A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

On Friday, December 11th 2009, Mariusz Pudzianowski, polish strongman with an impressive record of 6 european titles and 5 won world chmapionships, made his MMA debut at the "Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki", or short KSW. Pudzian, as Mariusz is called in Poland, was facing Marcin Najman, a professional boxer. There'sa good intro on both fighters on youtube, for your convenience I've posted the video here: As you can see, Mariusz is obviously the bigger, stronger fighter. There's a weight difference of approximately 25kg. Although Mariusz is a strength athlete, he's been doing Kyokushinkai Karate and Boxing for years (according to his homepage boxing for 7 years, karate for 20+ years, see http://pudzian.pl/mariusz.php ). Also, the guy was practicing BJJ with Miroslaw Okninski, propably the number one expert in poland when it comes to the brazilian art. You can look it up on their homepage, www.valetudo.pl , all that training is no urban myth. Of course, there's a...

Well, if you're observing the scene, you'll know by now that Mariusz Pudzianowski, "world's strongest man" will be competing in December at the "Martial arts confrontation" ("Konforntacia Sztuk Walki, KSW"). In a Black Belt Magainze interview, Rickson Gracie said that "Just being strong and well conditioned gives you an advantage" and "makes the other guy the underdog, no matter what". I have to absolutely agree on that one, although power and conditioning alone don't win fights - Rickson's brother Royce proved that at the first 3 UFC events. Of course, in Mariusz case, there's no need to think about that in the first place. Apart from doing Kyokushin Karate, Boxing and Wrestling, this guy is practicing BJJ, so this fight is going to be an interessting one from a technical point of view as well as from a physical one. Now what put a smile on my face is the fact that he's working out with Miroslaw Okninski - m...