In just a few days, Tomasz
Drwal will make its long-awaited return at KSW
53.
The bout will go down in Warsaw, Poland, on July 11, and it will
feature the former
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight’s return to
competition more than five years after losing to Michal
Materla in a championship fight at KSW 31. “The Gorilla”
(21-5-1) confessed that right now, he feels like Rocky Balboa when
Balboa went to Russia to prepare for Ivan Drago in “Rocky 4.”
“It’s like going back to ten years ago when I could just focus on
training,” he said to Sherdog. “I went back to my old gym, back to
my old trainers. It all started from here. I can feel the smell and
the history of this place. The training camp was completely
different this time. After I tore my ligaments, I had several
surgeries to clean the mess with my knees. Right now, I’m feeling
excellent. The preparation for this fight was crazy, but even with
the national lockdown, I managed to get at one hundred
percent.”
The 38-year old recalled the long path that brought him back to the
cage. Shortly after his unsuccessful
KSW debut, he should have met Aziz
Karaoglu at KSW 33. Destiny had a different path in store for
him.
“Ten days before the [Karaoglu] fight, I was jumping knees to the
chest to warm up. I landed and tore my ligaments. I had to undergo
surgery and take a break. Two years after that, I had to fix my
other knee, so I stayed on the sidelines for another year. In the
meantime, I became a businessman who owns four places between my
city and other cities. Once you start having children, once you
start getting older, and you start also looking at things from a
different perspective.”
Drwal is one of the MMA trailblazers in Poland. He was the first
Polish fighter to compete in the UFC, making his debut in the
Octagon against Thiago
Silva at UFC 75 back in September 2007. That night, “The
Gorilla” tasted defeat at the hands of the Brazilian by knockout in
Round 2. After that, Drwal went on a three-win run at the expense
of Ivan
Serati, Mike
Ciesnolevicz, and Drew
McFedries. The Polish fighter’s foray in the UFC ended after
losing to Rousimar
Palhares and David
Branch at UFC 111 and UFC Fight Night 22, respectively.
Although he lost his roster spot after the defeats, “The Gorilla”
arguably started the second wave of Polish MMA.
“When I started, if you mentioned MMA or the fact that you fight in
the cage, everyone started thinking that you were a criminal, or
you were one of the guys working for the mob,” Drwal said. “There
were fewer events and fighters. Besides the UFC, now a lot of
Polish fighters are competing in KSW and Bellator and more than a
thousand local shows around the world. There is no question that
MMA in Poland is a big deal, and that Polish fighters are all
around the world.”
While he understands the business related to it, the Polish fighter
confessed that he doesn’t like trash-talking.
“[What] I don’t like is the way everybody is about trash-talking to
promote a fight. It brings nothing good to this discipline. In my
MMA gyms, I teach people the values of martial arts, about respect.
I always ask my students: imagine you have children and you want
them to train in MMA, which school will you chose for them? The one
with the master who talks bulls—? Or would you prefer the school
with the master who teaches your children all the values of proper
training, diet, physical and mental education? Imagine if football
players talked like MMA fighters. I know it’s good for business,
but does it help our discipline? I think not.”
Drwal plans to ask for a rematch with Materla as soon as possible.
But first, he has to overcome Lukasz
Bienkowski (5-3), a fierce fighter whose ruthless aggression
earned him the nickname of “Polish Wanderlei.”
“I know he’s got some heavy punches, and he can be dangerous,” he
added. “For me, this is a good matchup since he also didn’t fight
for almost two years. He is a tough guy, he is younger, and I have
full respect for him because everybody is dangerous. To be honest,
I don’t think he’s not the same level of Materla, Khalid, or other
KSW top-level fighters. Everyone wants to win, and that’s what I’m
going to do on Saturday.”
Drwal seemed to really care about giving a clean image of the sport
he loves. More than anything, the longtime vet wishes for the
public to understand and appreciate the “art” in mixed martial
arts.
“I want to prove to everybody that MMA is more than just fighters
with tattoos fighting in a cage. There is more than fighting in
MMA, like running, lifting, stretching, mental exercises, and
following a healthy diet. MMA is not only smashing someone’s head
and rough stuff like that.
“The problem I have here in Poland is that when you invite someone
for training, they are always scared,” he concluded. “They think
MMA training, it’s like a real fight in the cage with no
protections. Everybody knows football rules because everybody plays
football since they were kids. Imagine if everyone knew the rules
of MMA. You can train MMA everywhere if you know what to do. You
can do it in the park, alone or with a partner.”