By Kelsey Mowatt
After Krzysztof Soszynski was stopped in his rematch against fellow TUF vet Stephan Bonnar last July, the veteran light-heavyweight returned to the winner’s column four months later at UFC 122, with a memorable unanimous decision victory over Goran Reljic. While the victory ended Soszynki’s three fight, 2010 campaign on a high note; it would also mark the last time he would fight for quite some time. (Pictured: Soszynski (right) with Muay Thai instructor Ed Buckley)
“I had both of my knees done at the same time,” Soszynski told FCF recently, while discussing the surgeries that have sidelined the 33 year-old –fighter thus far in 2011. “A week earlier I had a deviated septum fixed from my last fight too, so, I had my nose done the week before. Three surgeries within two weeks meant it’s been a long journey to get back to health, but I took some time off from training, laid around the house, and let everything heal. Everything’s nearly 100% now and I’m really excited to fight.”
Recently the UFC confirmed that Soszysnki (25-11-1) will return to action at the promotion’s upcoming, June 11th, UFC 131 card in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Poland native and Canadian citizen will take on Australia’s Anthony Perosh (11-6).
“As a fighter, he’s going to be a bit taller than me, have a little bit of a reach,” said Soszynski about the 6’3 tall Perosh, who is coming off a first round, submission victory over Tom Blackledge at UFC 127 in February. “He gave Cro Cop (Filipovic) a war, got cut, and the fight had to be stopped. He won his last fight in Australia by submission, so he has very good jiu-jitsu, but I think his weaknesses will be the striking and the wrestling.”
“I’m sure he’ll be busting his but to get ready,” Soszynski added. “I’m going to have to be ready. I’m going to train like I do for every fight; I train like I’m fighting the world light-heavyweight champion.”
While Soszynski traveled to Germany for his last fight in November, this time around the long time Winnipeg resident will remain much closer to home, fighting in Vancouver for the first time since 2004.
“I fought Lee Mein in Vancouver way back in the day,” Soszynski recalled. “I had a great time being out there. My wife’s family all live in Victoria, so they’re going to come to the fight; my parents are going to fly over, my son’s flying over, I’m going to have my whole family there, bunch of friends, so it’s going to be a blast. UFC 97 in Montreal was one of the best experiences in my career, but I expect Vancouver to be just as loud, just as good an experience.”
To prepare for his upcoming bout with Perosh, Soszynski will remain in California as he has been for some time now, splitting his time between several gyms that include world class trainers and fighters.
“I spend most of my time in Southern California,” Soszynski acknowledged. “I’m here at the Reign Training Center with Mark Munoz; it’s his gym, and there are a whole bunch of great fighters. I also train at Rafael Cordeiro’s gym, Kings MMA, so I have the best of both worlds... I got to train there with Fabricio Werdum, Wanderlei Silva was in town; the list goes on and on.”
Although Soszynski is no longer spending as much time training with Team Quest in Temecula as he used to, he reports that he still retains a solid relationship with its members and founders.
“I was back at Team Quest last week,” said Soszynski. “I was doing some work with my Muay Thai coach Ed Buckley, who still trains out of Team Quest. I have a great relationship with those guys but it was just something I had to do. When I left, there was just no training partners for me and I needed to go somewhere where they had the 205’ers, some heavyweights to train with me. So I spoke to Mark Munoz about the making the move and he said come on out, but I still talk to Dan Henderson; Heath Sims and I still talk all the time.”
