For Erko Jun, fighting Mariusz Pudzianowski at KSW 51 is like fighting for the belt

There’s no denying it’s been a whirlwind first year of fighting for heavyweight Erko Jun. And now he’s set for his toughest challenge yet, squaring off with former strongman competitor Mariusz Pudzianowski.

Most known for being a fitness model and personal trainer who has amassed a following of over 5,000,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram, Jun stepped into the MMA world in June of 2018 and hasn’t looked back. He’s racked up three wins in his first three fights.

“My first time stepping in to the cage after a couple of months of training was something different,” Jun told MMAWeekly.com. “(There was) a lot of pressure on my shoulders because of my big following.

“A lot of people were thinking ‘this guy is getting his ass beaten up now’; of course, it also gave me more motivation to prove them wrong. Every fight was another experience and a new goal. I like to challenge myself and move forward. Fights drive me to push myself to the maximum.”

In the year and a half since his first fight, Jun feels he’s been able to add technical skill to his game that is coming closer to already matching the competitive desire he had when he first started out.

“I’m still the same fighter, being a fighter is something from inside,” said Jun. “I’m just way better skilled now. (My) body also adapted to other kinds of training, more wiser and the fun thing is you never stop learning in the MMA world.”

On Saturday in Zagreb, Croatia, Jun (3-0) will face his toughest test yet when he matches up against Pudzianowski (12-7) in the KSW 51 heavyweight main event.

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“Fighting Mariusz is like fighting for the belt for me,” Jun said. “He’s a huge name in the industry and especially in KSW. I trained my ass off all these weeks and I’m prepared for everything. I wanna be the first man that really knocked him out.

“At the moment I don’t feel any kind of pressure, the fight camp went really well, thank God. I am of course also motivated because I’m fighting a big name. There is always pressure just before the fight but I think that counts for everyone.”

When it comes to November 9 and beyond, Jun is looking forward to putting on an explosive performance every time he steps into the cage.

“I’m just going to keep surprising the people and put on a great show,” said Jun. “People love to see knockouts and power inside the cage, that’s what I’m bringing.”