Przemyslaw Mysiala | Mogul Management
Mamed Khalidov was unsuccessful twice against Tomasz Narkun but Mysiala believes working with Khalidov’s team greatly helped his preparation.
On a landmark night for one of Europe’s leading promotions, veteran of the fight game, Przemyslaw Mysiala, finally gets his opportunity to grab his own slice of history. After a 33 fight professional career, ‘The Polish Bear’ can earn championship gold when he meets the longest reigning current champion in KSW, Tomasz Narkun, at KSW 50 on Saturday night from Wembley Arena, London.
Mysiala (23-9-1) knows that this may be the last opportunity he gets to prove he is among the best light heavyweights in Europe so planned his preparations leading up to fight night very carefully. Although the London-based Polish fighter didn’t get his title shot confirmed until around a month before the event, he was training for potential fights in case anything popped up. Once everything was signed, Mysiala thought a trip to train with one of Narkun’s main rivals would be advantageous and worthwhile.
“When we found out we got this fight, I went to Poland to train at Berkut Arrachion Olsztyn, the place where Mamed Khalidov trains,” said Mysiala. “Those guys have prepared for Narkun twice and I know them from when I visited about a year ago. They were very welcoming to me and we have the same opinion about the fight. This gym is one of the highest-level facilities I have ever been in and that’s impressive considering I have travelled to different camps all around the round.”
‘The Polish Bear’ received a huge opportunity last year when he got the call to compete on the TUF: Heavy Hitters edition of the reality show. It was outside of his natural weight class but he thought the chance of potentially making it to the UFC was too good to turn down. He was on Team Whittaker but failed to advance past the opening round when he was finished by Maurice Green. Mysiala didn’t think the whole experience was anywhere near as good as it could have been but certain aspects of appearing on the show mean he is better prepared to perform under the big lights.
“My experience on TUF relating to fighting was pretty bad as the training was s—t over there,” claimed Mysiala. “It was terrible but in terms of media work, I got better at doing stuff like that. The guys I was up against were much bigger than me but those challenges make you better. It made me deal with high pressure situations which will benefit me on Saturday night.”
After that trip over to the states, more people knew about Mysiala than ever before. Considering his newly-found, loose connection to the UFC and his Polish heritage, he must have been appealing to many European promotions to try and take on. Plus, with his ‘Polish Bear’ gimmick, a promotion like KSW could market him really well and create stunning visuals in their renowned entrances. It took quite a while for the call to come though but Mysiala is pleased that a bigger promotion has realised what he could bring to their shows.
“This is a question for KSW about why it took so long to sign me,” explained Mysiala. “I was always here and always in the market. I’d had a few previous conversations with KSW and we talked potential fights but they didn’t ever come to anything. Now is the time and place for me to make my mark and I’m happy about that. Also, TUF really isn’t that popular back in my home country so that doesn’t really matter to the Polish audience. Not many people actually know what the show is. Maybe if I’d have won the competition people would have been talking but Polish people don’t really care about it.”
KSW light heavyweight champion, Tomasz Narkun (16-3), is undefeated at the weight since 2014 and has finished 15 of his 16 professional wins. He has seen off the best light heavyweights KSW have to offer and will be hungry to get back to winning ways after being unsuccessful in his move up a weight class when he tried to add the heavyweight title to his collection. However, Mysiala is on a six-fight winning streak and 91% of his professional fights have been over before the final bell so he has a dangerous style. He shrugged off the suggestion that some fans believe he doesn’t deserve a title shot and he said that those same people will be fans of his after Saturday night.
“I will fight with my heart against Narkun as I always do,” stated Mysiala. “No matter what happens, I will never give up. I don’t think he’s faced anyone like me before. He is wise and maybe a bit better than me but that won’t matter on the night. I’m ready for everything he might bring. I won’t talk too much about my preparations as we have a plan but during the fight that could change. Definitely I am going to go for the finish. Before the final horn, I will finish the fight. In an ideal world, I will get a first round knockout but we will see what happens.”
KSW 50 can be purchased at kswtv.com around the world and kicks off at 6pm BST. Fans in the US can buy the event at the same website or watch on DAZN at 1pm/12c.