Fight Exclusive Night 2 was a big hit in Wrocław, Poland. A standing room only crowd, a great atmosphere and a memorable night of MMA and kickboxing action, not to mention the first ever live broadcast of FightBox and my first time doing live commentary at ringside! Below are some pictures of the event as well as my review of some of the fights.
The event took place in Stadion Wrocław (The Wrocław Municipal Stadium) at a club inside the stadium called "Klub Biznesowy" (The Business Club).
Pre-show preparations. There was one pre-show bout just before we went live on the air between Patryk Paduch and Mateusz Huży, which was a really brutal fight with Hyży's blood being spilled all over the place. Not a bad way to break in the ring, I guess. Paduch won in the second round when the referee stopped the fight due to unanswered strikes.
The "Miss FightBox" girls
Ringside commentary station - the best seat in the house!
Backstage interview area
Face to face before the opening fight - Damian Komisarski (left) vs. Damian Pomocka (right). This was a very evenly contested fight between two lesser-experienced guys under MMA rules. I enjoyed this fight and thought it was a good way to start the show. Komisarski wins by unanimous decision.
The next fight was by far the fight of the night. It's a pity I don't have any pictures of this one, but I was too busy calling the action at ringside and it had my full attention, but if you scroll down a little further there is a picture of Bubliński post fight. Piotr Rogosz ended up winning by unanimous decision under kickboxing rules, but in my opinion it was Przemysław Bubliński who was the real star of the fight taking dozens of really hard shots to the head throughout the bout, but never once being wavered by any of them. Rogosz was looking for the knockout in the first round and was nailing Bubliński with wicked overhand lefts and rights, but couldn't knock him down. As a result he was gassed in the second round and Bubliński started to take over. The third round was evidently scored for Rogosz as well, as he won the fight, but Bubliński really proved how tough he is.
The next fight was a quick one under MMA rules as Michał Piszczek submitted Janusz Dylewski with a kimura in the first round. Before the fight Piszczek said that his game plan was to take Dylewski down to the ground as soon as possible and that plan was able to be executed to perfection.
Up next was was another kickboxing rules fight as heavyweights Radosław Pupin (left) and Andrzej Kulik (right) clashed. I thought for sure this was going to be a one-sided fight as Pupin is a former World Champion in kickboxing and seemed quite sure of himself in a pre fight interview, but Kulik came with his A game and knocked out Pupin in the second round. He rocked Pupin early on in the first round and had him seeing stars. I don't think he every fully recovered from this and after a barrage of shots against the ropes he went down in the second round. While the referee was counting he was shaking his head "no" and the fight was called off.
Mateusz Tatarek (1 - 2), representing the Spartakus gym in Rzeszów took on Patryk Grudniewski (2 - 4) in an MMA rules contest in the next bout. Tatarek was knocked down in the first round and Grudniewski pounced on him and hit him with several strong blows to the face for the TKO stoppage.
Sylwia Juśkiewicz in her corner pre match.
It was "Women's Day" in Poland and while most ladies were receiving chocolates, flowers or romantic dinners, these two were slugging it out for three rounds underkickboxing rules. The favorite coming in was definitely Marta Chojnowska. She has competed in KSW and has had several high-profile MMA fights in her career. However, today was not her day as she got upset by Sylwia Juśkiewicz by unanimous decision. I think Chojnowska got frustrated in the first round as she was using a lot of impressive looking maneuvers to show off her technique, but none of them were landing. Juśkiewicz used her speed and skill to land a lot of quick combinations on the inside and out-pointed her more experienced opponent.
Special guest Robert "Hardkorowy Koksu" Burneika made several appearances in the ring at FEN2, but was not fighting. Will he step into the MMA ring again? It wasn't easy to get a clear answer one way of the other. We will have to wait and see.
Pole dancing, a special treat for the guys on "Women's Day"!!
Tymoteusz "Omen" Świątek pre-match in his corner.
The co-main event of the evening was an intriguing one for me. It pitted the 20 year old Tymoteusz Świątek against the 38 year old kick boxer Gerard Linder. Linder is a former WKN Kickboxing World Champion and Świątek is a brash young kid who was 12 - 1 coming in and has aspirations of making it to the UFC one day. Although Linder is an established veteran kick boxer, he is untested in MMA. "Omen" took advantage of this and took him down to the mat early in round one. In fact it was so quick that I didn't even notice that Linder had tapped out to a triangle choke until after the referee had stopped the fight! Near the ropes Linder started to feel the squeeze and tried to get outside the ropes to force a break, but Świątek maneuvered himself back in and tightened up his choke for the win. But he didn't get out of the fight unscathed. He had what appeared to be a very clean cut just underneath his eye, most likely from a fingernail. He fought through the blood though and came out the victor (see picture below).
Michał Dembler about to enter the ring for the main event.
Wojciech Bartnik (left) vs. Michał Dembler (right) - main event of "Fight Exclusive Night II"
The main event reminded me of the old days of the UFC when boxers would fight karate experts or sumo wrestlers would fight BJJ guys. This fight had a similar feel as the 46 year old Bartnik, who won a bronze medal at the '92 Olympic games in boxing, would take on Dembler, the 42 year old multi-time national kickboxing champion. Even though both guys are very established in their respective disciplines, neither has fought under MMA rules and the big unknown was what would happen if the fight went to the ground.
One of the biggest factors in this match was size. Bartnik was much heavier than Dembler and managed to use this to his advantage for the majority of the fight, pinning Dembler against the ropes and in the corner while landing short punches. It seemed like neither fighter was comfortable with the fact that you don't get broken up if you are holding or clinching. The fight did spill to the ground a few times with both guys actually executing a few good takedowns. For the most part Bartnik looked more dominant on the ground, but Dembler managed to get to his feet each time, to his credit.
After the first round it was clear that Bartnik had done a lot of damage, covering Dembler's face with welts and bruises. Dembler tried to intimidate Bartnik as the second round opened up throwing a lot more kicks, but as the fight progressed he was never really able to play to his strengths and wasn't able to incorporate a lot of kickboxing strikes. This is what eventually led to Bartnik's unanimous decision victory.
Bartnik is victorious at FEN2
What really surprised me is how hard these two guys fought in the main event. They are both past their primes and some people thought they were only taking the fight to make a few quick bucks. But that's not what I saw in the ring. I saw two guys who still have the passion for fighting and fought a lot harder than they needed to to put on a great show for the fans and to prove to themselves they they've still got it, and in my opinion, they still do.
Przemysław Bubliński and Michał Turyński post-show
Tymoteusz "Omen" Świątek post-fight
After party
Fight Exclusive Night proved that it's not just a gimmick, they can really deliver what they promise, not only great fights, but also great entertainment and a great show. The best part of the event was the diversity of the fights: young vs old, style vs style and a mix of MMA and kickboxing bouts, not to mention the added attractions like the music, the dancing and the special celebrity guests. Most of the guests and fighters were very approachable and fan friendly as I saw many of them mingling afterwards, signing autographs and taking pictures with fans.
The commentary was done live in two languages. In Poland there was Polish commentary and for the rest of the world it was in English. You will be able to see replays of the event soon on FightBox. Also, stay tuned for more info on our next live events coming up! As always feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you thought of the event. Were you there live? Did you watch on TV or online? What is your opinion of the event?
Here's my bottom line:
Fight of the Night: Piotr Rogosz vs. Przemysław Bubliński
Submission of the Night: Michał Piszczek (kimura)
Upset of the Night: Sylwia Juśkiewicz over Marta Chojnowska
- Daniel Austin (Don Roid)
daniel.austin@spiintl.com
