Returning to action for the first time in a year and coming off a loss in his previous bout, middleweight Mariusz Ksiazkiewicz was able to get back on track with his victory over Graham Park at Unified MMA 42 this past November for the company’s 195-pound title.
The fact that Ksiazkiewicz was able to finish park less than 90 seconds into the bout, especially coming off an injury, made his return even more impressive.
“I had a little bit of a longer layoff than I thought I would because I broke my hand,” Ksiazkiewicz told MMAWeekly.com. “I had major surgery on my hand and then I had some nerve damage in my hand. Once the nerve damage went away we tried to get some fights but we had cancellations, we had a couple guys who kept backing out, then Graham Park’s name came up.
“Eventually I knocked him out with one punch, and I thought it was enough to get into the big show, but unfortunately it wasn’t, so I just keep my head down, keep training and winning until the UFC can’t say no.”
Ksiakiewicz was able to use his year away to improve and feels like people will see a much better version of himself in 2022 compared to years past.
“Everything has improved significantly,” said Ksiakiewicz. “Even conditioning-wise, it’s even better than last fight, my strength is higher even though I’m fighting 10lbs lower (than the Park fight). Everything has improved drastically. I can’t wait to show the world.”
This Friday in New Town, North Dakota, Ksiakiewicz (9-1) will look to pick up his second straight win when he faces Alessandro Gambulino (12-3) in the 185-pound main event of LFA 130.
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“Most of Alessandro’s fights have been at 170 pounds, so I’m kind of shocked at 32 years old he’s planning on fighting at 185 pounds,” Ksiakiewicz said. “He’s a Jiu-Jitsu guy, who if you look at all his fights he gets hit hard and panics and tries to take it to the ground.
“I hit hard. I don’t think he’s faced anyone who can hit as hard as I can. I just can’t wait to punch him. I think it’s going to end poorly for him Friday night.”
While Ksiakiewicz’s goal is always to get to the top level of MMA, he’s not going to focus solely on that, but rather keep doing what he’s doing and let the opportunity come to him when it does.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself in my last fight; it was a main event on UFC Fight Pass against two #1 ranked guys in different weight classes colliding in the middle; so I put a lot of pressure on myself in that fight,” said Ksiakiewicz.
“I was thinking that kind of win would get me to the big show and it didn’t, so I don’t even think about that anymore. All I have to do is keep winning, keep performing, and I know I’ll get that call – it’s just a matter of when.”