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I will chase you! What if I don’t run? Pudzian and Khalid had fun on the press before the battle

The last tournament of the year, the largest Polish MMA organization KSW, will offer two extremely interesting title battles, but everyone’s eyes will most likely be focused mainly on the central match of the evening. It won’t be a championship belt, but it will still be one of the biggest fights (if not the biggest) the Polish organization has ever put on. We are, of course, talking about Mamed Khalidov’s encounter with Mariusz Pudzianowski, who will be the highlight of Saturday’s tournament in Gliwice.

Both rivals know each other quite well, they have been working side by side in KSW for almost 13 years and both can rightfully take credit for the rise of this Polish organization (although Pudzian, thanks to his huge popularity as a strongman, a little more). They also have a lot of respect for each other thanks to this, which made Pudzian’s words from the second trailer for their duel, which was released a few days ago, seem a little out of place: “Mamed has a wife, two sons, and he may never return to them. Or I’ll be the one who never comes home.” the former multiple-time Strongest Man on the Planet declared in it.

The very first question to Mamed at the press conference was aimed at this strong statement. However, before the Polish-Chechen wrestler could get to the microphone, an obviously angry Pudzian overtook him:

“Someone should be slapped on the face for that. It was taken out of context. It was said so that we are aware that we do not have to leave the cage on our own. Me, Mamed, every fighter that steps into the cage. They can take us away on a stretcher… And there it was cut as if we wanted to kill ourselves. Whoever put it together, come here, let’s do a little warm-up.” he was foaming at the mouth, but quite understandably he didn’t see the arrival of the guilty editor.

On the other hand, his words, whether taken out of context or not, make quite a bit of sense when we remember, for example, Pudzian’s fight with Michał Materla. After a brutal lift from the Polish strongman, he recovered from unconsciousness for several long minutes and had to be supported on the way out of the cage. From this match we can also look for analogies for Saturday’s encounter. Materla, like Khalidov, spent most of his career in the middleweight division and entered against the 115kg strongman with a large weight deficit.

“We are two different wrestlers and we fight differently. Michał keeps going forward like a tank, pushing and I have my style again. So the comparison doesn’t make sense to me.” the Chechen-Polish wrestler refused, saying that he would somehow extensively analyze their fight and try to find a recipe for Pudzian in it.

“Well, there was nothing to look at, I just can’t fight. You don’t need a philosopher for that, I’m just waving my hand around and I might hit a shot.” Pudzian, already in a good mood, intervened in the discussion.

“I agree with Mariusz,” a stone-faced Mamed responded, making the audience laugh. He then used this replica several more times with success.

Comparison with the match Pudzianowski – Materla, with regard to the result quite understandably, defended himself already two months ago, shortly after the announcement of their fight. “I know I can’t go to a shootout with Mariusz. First of all, it is a heavy weight, it is simply impossible to collect such blows. I had that opinion even before his match with Michal. You can’t box with Mariusz like that,” he said then.

And it’s hard to say if he changed his mind, wanted to entertain, or was trying to get into Pudzian’s head, but he spoke differently at yesterday’s press conference.

“Fierce firefight. Heavy firefight. Just a shootout. I won’t run away,” almost reciting towards Mariusz the answer to the question about tactics.

“I’ll chase you,” the strongman responded.

“And how are you going to chase me if I won’t run?” retorted Mamed readily.

Otherwise, there is no heated atmosphere between them, as evidenced by footage from behind the scenes:

How Khalidov will ultimately approach the match, we will find out for sure only on Saturday. But engaging in wild exchanges with the former five-time World’s Strongest Man seems like a crazy idea. He is much more likely to resort to his original tactic of staying as far away from Pudzian as possible.

With a bit of exaggeration, however, it can be said that both of them are already winners. According to the boss himself, they will come up with a decent package, together they should divide over three million zlotys (over 15 million crowns in conversion). Such an amount is truly gigantic in the context of European MMA and only underlines how big a draw these two legends are. Let’s hope they confirm this status in the cage and give the audience an unforgettable performance.

The KSW 77 tournament can be watched in our region on the voyo.cz portal or through the official PPV broadcast. The whole event should start at seven o’clock in the evening. There are a total of 11 duels on the program.

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