Marcin Lazarz Says Polish MMA Fighters Don't Get Much Respect
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 03.08.2013
He's hoping to change that...
Marcin Lazarz recently spoke with MMAjunkie about his bout with Max Nunes at BAMMA 12 and more. Check out the highlights:
On MMA in Poland: "I think the level is pretty tough and pretty decent in Poland. Promotion-wise, it's still not as good as the U.K. It's not watched as much, … but the level in Poland is pretty tough."
On his beginnings in MMA: "I started like 10 years ago. I started from wrestling and jiu-jitsu, pretty much. I spent most of the time on jiu-jitsu, and then I fell in love with submission wrestling. I was following that for quite some time, and then MMA was just the next step for me. It was pretty natural for me to get involved with MMA. I'd done a little bit of boxing before. I like striking, as well. So MMA was the next step for me."
On finding it difficult to get opponents when he went to the UK: "For some reason as soon as I got to the U.K., I couldn't get going. I was competing in submission wrestling, and I was doing quite well. I kept on doing that, and trying to get an MMA fight wasn't so easy with no record at all at the moment. People didn't want to fight me because of my grappling background. That made it hard to get opponents. But somehow we started. We got on a few shows, and that's how it starts. We started quite late, but I don't mind. We're doing quite well at the moment, and we'll keep on going."
On Nunes: "He looks alright. He can move around, but I don't see any kind of background in his style. I think he's an MMA fighter. He might be a jiu-jitsu guy, but it doesn't mean anything. But he's not a proper wrestler. He could be a kickboxing guy and jiu-jitsu, but I don't rate his jiu-jitsu that high. Whatever is going to happen in that fight, I'm ready to take. He's confident, and I reckon it's going to be a really interesting fight. What can I say? I'm pretty confident, as well. I'm going to stop him. I don't care about his record. It doesn't mean anything. He's good? That's good. That's a good opponent for me, and I'm ready to take him out."
On Polish fighters: "Whatever Polish fighter you get, it's a tough fight. I haven't seen a fight with a Polish professional MMA fighter which wasn't a tough fight. We are naturally tough people, and I think there's a good future in Polish MMA."
