During this MMA hiatus, we’ve taken to scouting world and selecting five favorite prospects from each country for the most part. In this edition, we take a look at some of the top fighting prospects coming out of Poland. There are so mant talented Polish fighters out there and some of the bigger names include Mamed Khalidov, Krzysztof Jotko, Marcin Tybura, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Jan Blachowitz, and former UFC strawweight queen, Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Middleweight, Cezary Kesik (12-0)
Cezary Kesik is very underrated and is one of the best, if not the best, Polish prospects out there. Kesik is exciting, bringing an aggressive kickboxing style with a lot of power in his hands with six finishes by way of KO/TKO. If needed, Kesik will take the fight down where he is really talented with positional control and transitions. Kesik is the current Thunderstrike Fight League middleweight champion, the same promotion UFC light heavyweight Michal Oleksiejczuk came from.
Lightweight, Mateusz Rebecki (11-1)
Mateusz Rebecki is a BJJ black belt and is a two-time gold medalist in ADCC (Poland). He trains out of Berserker Team with fighters like Michal Materla, Tomasz Narkun, and much more established veterans. Rebecki is the current Fight Exclusive Night lightweight champion which is a solid promotion out of Poland. Rebecki is a bit one-dimensional being solely a grappler but in that area, he’s just so dangerous and that’s on top or bottom. Also, watch if he gets into the crucifix position because he is a monster there.
Featherweight, Dawid Smielowski (6-0)
Dawid Smielowski is contracted at featherweight but has competed mainly in catchweight bouts. Either way he’s a big fighter standing at 5’10” — especially at featherweight. Smielowski is a highlight-reel fighter. He has a 100% finish rate with 4 KO/TKO and two submissions. Among those wins, he has finished with a bulldog choke, a flying knee, and a head kick. Smielowski, being a tall rangy, fighter is a solid kickboxer. And while he can be technical, he’s a showman, throwing caution to the wind always looking for the kill shot. His takedown defense does need work but even off his back he’s shown to be at least promising. Smielowski does have improved grappling and at only 24 he has a high ceiling.
Welterweight, Mateusz Legierski (6-0)
Mateusz Legierski is a young (23) Polish fighter who is a fun fighter who has finished all but one fight. He has some decent wrestling and is a threat on the mat, but is arguably a much more dangerous striker. Legierski has big power in both his hands and besides that he throws very nice inside and outside leg kicks. He does get taken down when he shouldn’t but always gets back to his feet.
Featherweight, Mateusz Gamrot (15-0)
Mateusz Gamrot may not be considered a prospect due to his success for a big promotion in KSW. However, in my opinion, he qualifies as a prospect so he will be on my list. Gamrot is the former KSW dual champ at lightweight and featherweight before he relinquished his titles. Outside of MMA, he’s won the ADCC European Championships and won a gold medal at the Polish Championships in BJJ twice. Gamrot has beaten former UFC fighters Norman Parke and Andre Winner, but has some good wins over stiff competition in general. He’s more of a smart striker than he is a dynamic striker. He is very good at throwing feints, he switches stances a lot which is difficult for an opponent, and he covers distance very well. He has good qualities on the feet but his wrestling is much better— even more so his ground and pound.
