Mariusz Pudzianowski One legend the sport

 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.

 

 

Mariusz Pudzianowski

Professional Competitive Record – [1st (42), 2nd (7), 3rd (4) – Out of Total(59)]
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

Completed contests

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

 

In 2009, Pudzianowski signed a contract with Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki – a Polish mixed martial arts organization – to take part in four fights.

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.