Eddie Hall achieved a remarkable upset victory over Mariusz Pudzianowski in his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut.
The British strongman competitor squared off against his fellow former World`s Strongest Man titleholder on a packed KSW 105 fight card held in Poland on Saturday evening.
Hall, 37 years old, was widely regarded as the significant underdog heading into this fight. His prior combat sports experience was limited to just two bouts: a boxing match against Hafthor Bjornsson and an unconventional 2-on-1 event facing the Neffati brothers.
Despite Pudzianowski`s 16 years of experience in the sport, `The Beast,` as Hall is known, managed to overcome his veteran opponent to win this major contest in Gliwice.
His victory came in exceptionally decisive fashion, needing only 30 seconds to knock out Pudzianowski.
Hall initially hurt Pudzianowski severely with a powerful straight right hand after cornering the Polish fighting icon against the perimeter of the cage.
Visibly stunned, Pudzianowski immediately attempted to initiate a takedown. However, Hall successfully defended against it, preventing Pudzianowski from escaping or avoiding further heavy blows.
Hall quickly gained a dominant top position on the ground and began raining down heavy punches on the downed Pudzianowski.
Recognizing that Pudzianowski could no longer intelligently defend himself, the referee promptly and mercifully stopped the fight.
Despite his quick victory, Hall, the MMA novice, was candid about feeling apprehension before sharing the cage with the highly experienced KSW fighter Pudzianowski.
He commented, “If you’re not scared, you’re not nervous then something’s not right.”
“Let’s be honest, I’m stepping in to face Mariusz Pudzianowski; he has 26 professional fights and is a five-time World’s Strongest Man.”
“He is an incredibly tough and fierce individual. To get into the cage and exchange punches with a man who has had 26 fights? I`ve only had one!”
“So yes, I had plenty to be apprehensive about. Even the four-minute rounds were something difficult for me to adjust to.”
“He possessed numerous advantages,” Hall added, “but I simply decided, ‘Forget it. Why not agree to four-minute rounds? Let`s just get this fight over with.’”
In preparation for this bout, Hall underwent a significant physical transformation, shedding approximately 45 kilograms (around 99 pounds).
He dramatically changed his famous 12,000-calorie-per-day strongman diet to reach a weigh-in weight of 150kg (approximately 330 pounds) – a substantial difference from his peak strongman weight of 195kg (around 430 pounds).
This impressive victory in MMA represents an achievement that eluded him in the sport of boxing.
Hall`s boxing debut resulted in a loss against another strongman, Hafthor Björnsson, famously known as Thor.
Elton Marrow