Mariusz Zbigniew Pudzianowski (born on February 7, 1977 in Biała Rawska) is a Polish former strongman and current mixed martial artist. His nickname in Poland is "Pudzian".
During his career as a strongman, Pudzianowski has won five World's Strongest Man titles—more than any other athlete—as well as two runner-up titles (including his most recent performance in the 32nd edition). In 2009, Pudzianowski debuted as a mixed martial artist.He is considered as the best strongman that has ever competed in the history of the sport. Mariusz Pudzianowski was born in Biała Rawska, Poland. His father, Wojciech, was a weightlifter. Pudzianowski quickly became interested in sports. Since the age of 11, he has been training the Kyokushin style of karate. His current grade is 4th kyu green belt. He began strength training at the age of thirteen. When he was fifteen, Pudzianowski also started training boxing, quitting after seven years. Pudzianowski debuted in professional sports at the age of sixteen, taking part in Polish Weightlifting Championship, in the bench press event.
Imprisonment. In 2000 and 2001, Pudzianowski spent 19 months in prison for assault. In an interview, he said he wanted to stop a "local mafia boss", from physically abusing a young man. The man later accused Pudzianowski of assault and theft of a gold chain. Pudzianowski was incarcerated in prison in Łowicz. Several years later he arranged a resocialization meeting for the prisoners at the same penal institution.
During his career as a strongman, Pudzianowski has won five World's Strongest Man titles—more than any other athlete—as well as two runner-up titles (including his most recent performance in the 32nd edition). In 2009, Pudzianowski debuted as a mixed martial artist.He is considered as the best strongman that has ever competed in the history of the sport. Mariusz Pudzianowski was born in Biała Rawska, Poland. His father, Wojciech, was a weightlifter. Pudzianowski quickly became interested in sports. Since the age of 11, he has been training the Kyokushin style of karate. His current grade is 4th kyu green belt. He began strength training at the age of thirteen. When he was fifteen, Pudzianowski also started training boxing, quitting after seven years. Pudzianowski debuted in professional sports at the age of sixteen, taking part in Polish Weightlifting Championship, in the bench press event.
Imprisonment. In 2000 and 2001, Pudzianowski spent 19 months in prison for assault. In an interview, he said he wanted to stop a "local mafia boss", from physically abusing a young man. The man later accused Pudzianowski of assault and theft of a gold chain. Pudzianowski was incarcerated in prison in Łowicz. Several years later he arranged a resocialization meeting for the prisoners at the same penal institution.
Mariusz Pudzianowski
Performance Metric – .964 [Polish – .995 International – .953]
| Professional | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | INJ | DNQ | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polish | 15 | 1 | 16 | ||||||||||
| International | 27 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 43 | |||||
| Combined | 42 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 59 |
| Competition | Location | Outcome | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
 World's Strongest Man | Valetta, Malta | 2nd place | 2009-03-10 |
 World's Strongest Man | Charleston, West Virginia, USA | Winner | 9/6-14/2008 |
 World Strongman Federation Grand Prix | Silichy, Belarus | Winner | 2008-03-08 |
 Poland Cup | Poland | Winner | 2008-02-08 |
 World Strongman Federation Grand Prix (Globe's Strongest Man) | Russia | Winner | 2008 |
| Poland vs. The World | Poland | Winner | 2008 |
| Mohegan Sun Super Series Grand Prix | Uncasville, Connecticut, USA | 2nd place | 2008-01-19 |
| World's Strongest Man | Anaheim, California, USA | Winner | 2007 |
 Svend Karlsens Viking Power Super Series Grand Prix | Norway | Winner | 2007 |
| Venice Beach Super Series Grand Prix | Venice Beach, California, USA | 2nd place | 2007 |
| Mohegan Sun Super Series Grand Prix | Uncasville, Connecticut, USA | Winner | 2007 |
| European Championship | Poland | Winner | 2007 |
 World Strongman Cup Grand Prix | England | Winner | 2007 |
 World Strongman Cup Grand Prix | Latvia | Winner | 2007 |
 World's Strongest Man | Sanya, China | 2nd place | 2006 |
| Poland Super Series Grand Prix | Poland | Winner | 2006 |
| Moscow Super Series Grand Prix | Moscow, Russia | Winner | 2006 |
| Mohegan Sun Super Series Grand Prix | Uncasville, Connecticut, USA | Winner | 2006 |
| World Strongman Cup Grand Prix | Russia | Winner | 2006 |
| World Strongman Cup Grand Prix | Poland | Winner | 2006 |
| World Strongman Cup Grand Prix | Latvia | Winner | 2006 |
| World Strongman Cup Grand Prix | Belarus | Winner | 2006 |
| Arnold's Strongest Man | Columbus, Ohio, USA | 6th place | 2005 |
| World's Strongest Man | Chengdu, China | Winner | 2005 |
| Poland vs. The World | Poland | Winner | 2005 |
| Mohegan Sun Super Series Grand Prix | Uncasville, Connecticut, USA | Winner | 2005 |
 Sweden Super Series Grand Prix | Sweden | Winner | 2005 |
| Poland Super Series Grand Prix | Poland | Winner | 2005 |
| Venice Beach Super Series Grand Prix | Venice Beach, California, USA | Winner | 2005 |
 World Strongman Cup Grand Prix | Austria | Winner | 2005 |
| Arnold's Strongest Man | Columbus, Ohio, USA | 4th place | 2004 |
 World's Strongest Man | Nassau, Paradise Island, The Bahamas | Disqualified (originally 3rd place) | 2004 |
| European Championship | Jelenia Gora, Poland | Winner | 2004 |
| World Team Championship | Plock, Poland | Winner | 2004 |
| Moscow Super Series Grand Prix | Moscow, Russia | Winner | 2004 |
| Polish Cup | Poland | Winner | 2004 |
 World's Strongest Man | Victoria Falls, Zambia | Winner | 2003 |
| European Championship | Sandomierz, Poland | Winner | 2003 |
 World Team Championship | Hungary | Winner | 2003 |
 Ylitornio Challenge | Finland | Winner | 2003 |
| World Record Breakers | Gdynia, Poland | Winner | 2003 |
| Polish Cup | Poland | Winner | 2003 |
| Arnold's Strongest Man | Columbus, Ohio, USA | 5th place | 2003 |
| Finland Super Series Grand Prix | Finland | 2nd place | 2003 |
 Canada Super Series Grand Prix | Canada | 2nd place | 2003 |
 Holland Super Series Grand Prix | Holland | Winner | 2003 |
| Hawaii Super Series Grand Prix | Hawaii, USA | Winner | 2003 |
 World's Strongest Man | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Winner | 2002 |
| Hawaii Super Series Grand Prix | Hawaii, USA | 3rd place | 2002 |
| Sweden Super Series Grand Prix | Sweden | 5th place | 2002 |
| European Championship | Gdynia, Poland | Winner | 2002 |
| Polish Cup | Poland | 2nd place | 2002 |
| World Team Championship | Hungary | 3rd place | 2002 |
 World's Giants | Ireland | Winner | 2002 |
 World's Strongest Man | Sun City, South Africa | 4th place | 2000 |
| Helsinki Grand Prix | Finland | 10th place | 2000 |
| World Team Championship | Hungary | 2nd place | 2000 |
| World Cup Grand Prix | Poland | Winner | 2000 |
| World Team Championship | China | 3rd place | 1999 |
| Polish Cup | Poland | Winner | 1999 |
He debuted as a mixed martial arts fighter on December 11, 2009, during the KSW 12 event in Warsaw, Poland, winning against Marcin Najman, a professional boxer (who, at that time, was also a MMA newcomer). Pudzianowski started throwing low kicks soon after the fight began. After several hits, Najman fell to the mat and Pudzianowski started delivering punches (a tactic known as ground-and-pound). Najman was forced to tap the mat, indicating he wanted to end the fight, which lasted for only 43 seconds. Before the fight Mariusz said: "Lewa ręka niesie za sobą śmierć, a prawej sam się boję." (English: "The left hand brings death, but the right one even I am afraid of.") Pudzianowski collected 200,000 złoty (70,000 USD) for the fight.
On May 7, 2010, during the KSW 13 event, Pudzianowski won his second fight, against Yusuke Kawaguchi. The fight lasted full two rounds, with Pudzianowski winning by judges' decision. The fight was described as a "sloppy brawl". It was noted Pudzianowski had control over most of the fight, but was "neutralized" by Kawaguchi, and that, by the second round, he was looking "to be out of energy and breathing heavily".
On May 21, 2010, Pudzianowski went on to participate in the Moosin: God of Martial Arts event, where he fought former two time UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia. Pudzianowski fractured his metatarsus during the first round and then went on to deplete his stamina during the rest of the fight, which ultimately led to Sylvia defeating him via submission (punches) at 1:43 of round 2.
Following his loss to Sylvia in May, Pudzianowski signed to face former heavyweight boxer and kickboxer Eric Esch, better known as 'Butterbean', at KSW 14 on September 18. After several brief standup exchanges, Pudzianowski secured a takedown early in the fight and was then able to dominate Esch with ground and pound. Esch, unable to get back to his feet during the attack, tapped out to the strikes, making Pudzianowski the winner by submission at 1:15 of the first round. He came into the fight notably slimmer, having lost around 20 lbs from his previous fight. Many believe his large muscle mass to have caused his stamina problems in his earlier fights.
On May 21, 2011 Pudzianowski fought James Thompson at KSW XVI, losing by arm triangle.
In September 2011 Mariusz Pudzianowski started professional training in the well known martial arts club in the USA – American Top Team.
Pudzianowski fought on the KSW XVII event, which was held on November 26, 2011. He faced James Thompson in a rematch. He won the fight via majority decision. This decision caused some controversy and two days later it was overturned to a No Contest by the promoter. During a conference held on November 28th, the ruling was deemed to be a 'judge's error' and the fight result was changed.
