We would like to invite you to read an interview we did with Lukasz Sajewski (8-0) one of the Polish young and up-and-coming fighters, who defeated another Polish prospect Marcin Held (8-1) on Angels of Fire in Plock. Lukasz tells us about how the fight went, about his preparations and about which Polish fighter he’d like to face in the future. Enjoy!
Hi Lukasz, at the beginning I’d like you to answer a few questions about your fight with Marcin on Angels of Fire.
You’ve defeated Marcin Held, who is regarded as the biggest talent in Polish MMA. How do you feel?
I feel very good because Held was considered a favorite in this fight. I was an underdog. I think Marcin thought too much about his fight with “White Bear” (Jean Silva) and he didn’t even think about loosing to me.
The fight was pretty much even, but Marcin’s coach Slawomir Szamota said that it was a good decision. What can you tell us about how the fight went?
I know I dominated in wrestling and fought from the top. Marcin was going for various leg locks but I managed to escape. I had a few tough moments when he almost knee-barred me or heel-hooked.
Were you able to execute your game plan in 100%? Are you happy with your performance or do you think you could have done something better or work harder during your preparations?
The fight didn’t go exactly to my plan, as I didn’t want to fight on the ground. But I really like the takedowns and I don’t know why I decided to plan his game. As for the preparations, 2 weeks before the fight I had a cold and I didn’t train for 5 days. Then I’ve gone nuts as I wanted to compensate for the lost days which lead to overtraining and in the last week I strained my ankle. Probably if it was a regular fight I would have pulled out of it but this was the most important fight of my career so far and I couldn’t afford to lose all that I’ve been working for. I don’t know why but this situation made me feel more relaxed and calm. My mindset was to take whatever happens and strangely enough I didn’t feel any pressure before the fight.
How did you prepare for this fight? Who did you train with?
I prepared as usual in AKADEMIA SARMATIA where Pawel Ziolkowski is the head coach. I trained standup in Dobroslaw Bielecki’s GKSK CORPUS club. I’d like to thank my sparring partners Krzysiek Piechota, Marcin Pionke and Izu Ugonoh.
As we know Andrzej Wronski (two time Olympic champion) is your wrestling coach. How much did training with him improve your wrestling?
I think wrestling is my strongest point. I love wrestling. I think it gives you a lot of strength, agility and dynamics necessary in MMA fights. Training sessions with Andrzej Wronski are not only Greco-Roman wrestling but wrestling adopted to MMA. I’m very happy that I can train with him.
What was the game plan for this fight? It’s not a secret that Marcin is phenomenal on the ground. Did you want to stand with him or maybe take the fight to the ground and try to surprise him there?
As I mentioned earlier I didn’t plan to go to the ground. If the fight ended on the ground my intention was to stand up and punch.
Before fighting Held you had a long break from MMA. What was the reason for that?
I had an injury which has been bugging for a long time.
The owners of KSW federation are planning a lightweight tournament in September. Did Mr Kawulski and Lewandowski contacted you to talk about fighting in KSW 14. If the offer would be interesting would you agree to take part in the tournament?
There have not been any talks so far but I think the offer would be good mainly because of marketing reasons as we know Mariusz Pudzianowski brings millions of people in front of the TV.
Marcin Held is a very ambitious fighter, for sure he’d like a rematch. Are you ready to fight him again?
Now he has a fight with Jean Silva and he should focus on that. However, If I get a good offer than why not.
How much weight do you cut to 155 limit?
My natural weight is about 160-165lbs.
In MMArocks ranking you’re third. Only Maciej Gorski and Maciej Jewtuszko are ahead, but in this weight class there are a lot of other tough fighters. Which Polish fighter would you like to face the most?
I always thought of fighting Maciej Gorski. I watched him fight in KSW before I even had my first fight. He’s a bit overrated as a KSW team fighter but in general he has some good skills. As for Jewtuszko I think he deserves to be number one in Poland. Anyway, in my opinion setting up fights between the best guys in Poland does not make any sense as they might be confronting some other competitors from abroad, as for example Artur Sowinski in his last fight.
Where do you see your future in a few years time? In which organization you would like to fight most?
I don’t think of that distant future. Anyway, I would like to be a part of UFC one day. However, I still have a few years of training before that.
Can you say a few words about yourself? What do you usually do when you don’t train? What does your family think about your fights? Would you like to do anything else than fighting?
Sport is my life and I don’t have any other plans. I have a girlfriend whose name is MMA and I don’t want to brake up with her 🙂 As for my family, little by little they start to understand that MMA is not just a brawl.
Do you train in GI? I remember you were to fight in BJJ competition “Helio Gracie Memorial” in Opalenica. Why didn’t you compete eventually? Do you have any plans to fight in grappling or do you focus only on MMA?
In AKADEMIA SARMATIA we also train in GI. However, we focus more on MMA than sport jiu jitsu. I have plans to compete in grappling because I want to improve my skills. My fight with Marcin made me realize that I still have some flaws in my game and how much I have to work on them.
At the end we leave some space for you to thank anybody. We would like to thank you for finding some time for our readers and wish you good luck in your future fights.
I would like to thank my MMA coach Pawel Ziolkowski, my wrestling coach Andrzej Wronski and my standup coach Dobroslaw Bielecki. I would also like to thank my sponsors FITNESS AUTHORITY for supplements, REBEL and JAWORSCY NIERUCHOMOSCI. Greeting to all grapplerINFO and MMAROCKS readers.
