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"I'm a barbarian" - interview with Marcin Rozalski
He’s a two time K-1 World Champion of prestigious organizations. On March 19th he’ll make his MMA debut at the 15th Martial Arts Confrontation. He says he always wanted to test himself in this form of combat sports.
We encourage you to read the interview with Marcin Rozalski, who tells us why he retired from K-1, decided to try MMA and how he was influenced by the “Kickboxer” movie.
You hung up your gloves and now you’re coming back. This time it’s not K-1, it is mixed martial arts. Why did you decide to do that?
- I’ve never said I’m done with professional sport. I’ve just had a break. It’s not like I didn’t want to fight, it was people around... basically I worked with suckers. I think that’s the right word. Money offers I was receiving were pathetic. For money like this they could at the most caress my dog’s balls.
I believe I’m a good stand-up fighter and I’m not talking myself up. I’m not a standout striker, but I’m a good fighter. I’m not a technician, but my fights are pleasing to watch. I like to brawl and fans enjoy it and I know what I’m worth. I’m not a warrior, because a warrior would conquer castles for a rice bowl. I’m a barbarian. I’d rather attack maharaja’s palace than native’s village. I’m a barbarian so I fight for prey! I will fight only if I’m fairly compensated. This is a circus, I’m a monkey and monkey wants peanuts. That’s my philosophy. I’m always ready and in shape. I train twice a day, I’m a coach and have appropriate diet.
Why MMA? MMA is very popular now. Mixed martial arts occupy the ninety percent of combat sports interest in Poland. I’m a young guy, I still have a few years ahead of me to fight and test myself. In the last year I had three or four MMA offers, unfortunately none of them worked out.
I have this internal desire to try MMA. Who knows I may soon die or have serious health issues and I don’t want to regret that I’ve never fought in mixed martial arts competition. I’ll try it to test myself. If I perform well, I’ll be satisfied. KSW is the best promotion in Poland and one of the best in Europe. They gave me a fair financial offer, so I signed the deal. This is a desire to have a few new marks and bruisers, to have a real fight, after all it’s what it’s about.
You say that you want to test yourself in MMA. Isn’t the money your primary motivation?
- The money is obviously a great motivation. If I said that I was an idealist and I didn’t do for money, I would lie. If I received a unsatisfying offer, I wouldn’t be doing this. I’ve got a fair contract, but as I said before my life revolves around combat sports. I fought in kickboxing, boxing, muay thai & K-1, I trained judo and briefly Brazilian ju-jitsu. Now they all evolved to MMA. Whenever you enter a sports website it’s all about MMA. On top of that I want to test myself, I want of evolve as a fighter. I know that I have to work on my ground game, learn new tricks and that’s also a motivation. Television exposure is also important. When the TV is involved, it’s easier to have sponsors . The promoter earns, the manager earns, the guy selling hot-dogs earns and first and foremost the fighter earns money.
Have you already started training the all aspects of the MMA game. We know your stand-up is good, what about your grappling?
- My ground is very good. I’ve been recently promoted to the BJJ black belt (laughing). Since I started my kickboxing career I’ve always thought about MMA. I’ve always thought about trying this sport and I trained ground game from time to time. Now I have a full MMA training. Stand-up is still my base, because this the area when I’m the best, but I can’t say that ground game is just an entertainment for me. I take it really seriously and work as hard as possible. I trained with Lukasz Jurkowski, fighters from my gym, as well as Mariusz Felczak and Tomasz “Kongo” Janiszewski. They help me a lot and I hope that I’ll be also able to work with Krzysztof Kulak. I’ve just been contacted with him by Maciej Kawulski and I’m really eager to train with him. I respect him and his image. Well I don’t know him personally and but I enjoy his in-ring persona. There’s a good chance we’ll understand each other, cause we have a similar outlook on many issues.
Please tell us what are the biggest differences between preparing for K-1 and MMA bouts?
- For sure, in MMA I have to forget about throwing high kicks, middle kicks or spinning back kicks, these are the easiest to catch by the grapplers. I put a strong emphasis on lowkicks, that’s my main weapon. I focus on lowkicks, boxing techniques and a lot knees. In K-1 knee strikes are very limited, there is no fighting in the clinch in contrast with muay thai fights. That’s why I’m concentrated mostly on my lowkicks, knees and boxing. I also work a lot on my sprawl to be able to stop takedowns. I guess these are the main differences.
You fought at heavyweight in K-1. What was the weight limit then?
- Ninety-five and up. For instance I weighed one hundred and two kilograms and fought opponents who were thirty kilograms heavier.
Your KSW 15 fight will be contested under the one hundred and five weight limit. Weren’t you tempted to cut down to light heavyweight (ninety-three kilograms)?
- I walk around about one hundred and two kilograms. To tell you the truth I believe in fate. What was meant to be is meant to be, it makes no sense to change it. You have to take what you get. My weight is close to one hundred and five and I feel good fighting in this category. If it’s my destiny, I fight my heart out and I execute my plan, you’ll see a good scrap. If I fail deliver, I’ll accept the consequences.
Have you already talked to KSW promoters about your opponent?
- No. For me it’s a secondary issue. I’ve never been concerned about my opponents. Early in my career I would receive a phone call about a fight and the first thing I’d ask was the money not the opponent. Many time I was preparing for one guy and “bum” a day before the fight there was a change. What happens then? Should I hang myself? No! I had wins against good fighters and losses to lesser opponents. There is no fixed rule, you can beat anybody and at the same time anybody can beat you. This posturing in the interviews that you are the best have no sense. You have to fight as hard as possible, take some punches and let it all out in the ring. We don’t determine the winner.
You train and live in Plock. Warsaw is not that far away. Can we expect a lot of Rozal fans at KSW 15 in March?
- The stick has two ends. Sometimes when you have a tough moment or you are tired the support of your fans helps tremendously. Sometimes it stiffens you up, because you feel the pressure and want to perform the best you could. More often than not, when you want it too hard, you don’t succeed. It’s a two-edged sword.
I once fought in Turkey, where the fans wanted to kill and if not for the security they would have probably gutted me like a ram. I’ll be very grateful for fans’ support, however, in the ring you are alone and can count only on yourself.
Who will be in you corner?
- I’ll definitely have one of my ground coaches, as well my stand-up partner Darek Rzeszkowski.
Your nickname is Rozal, but watching you hair I wonder why not “The Polish Tong Po”. - Well, in general I don’t like nicknames like “Dancing with the knives” or ”The murderer”. As for my hair, you’re right. When I first watched the “Kickboxer” and saw Tong Po, I kicked all the trees in my neighborhood. You know long hair in this sport is probably not the best idea, but I started growing it a long time ago and it doesn’t bother me much. I don’t know how long I’ll let it grow, though.
Marcin thanks your time and good luck in your KSW debut.
- Thanks.
Interview by Artur Przybysz
You hung up your gloves and now you’re coming back. This time it’s not K-1, it is mixed martial arts. Why did you decide to do that?
- I’ve never said I’m done with professional sport. I’ve just had a break. It’s not like I didn’t want to fight, it was people around... basically I worked with suckers. I think that’s the right word. Money offers I was receiving were pathetic. For money like this they could at the most caress my dog’s balls.
I believe I’m a good stand-up fighter and I’m not talking myself up. I’m not a standout striker, but I’m a good fighter. I’m not a technician, but my fights are pleasing to watch. I like to brawl and fans enjoy it and I know what I’m worth. I’m not a warrior, because a warrior would conquer castles for a rice bowl. I’m a barbarian. I’d rather attack maharaja’s palace than native’s village. I’m a barbarian so I fight for prey! I will fight only if I’m fairly compensated. This is a circus, I’m a monkey and monkey wants peanuts. That’s my philosophy. I’m always ready and in shape. I train twice a day, I’m a coach and have appropriate diet.
Why MMA? MMA is very popular now. Mixed martial arts occupy the ninety percent of combat sports interest in Poland. I’m a young guy, I still have a few years ahead of me to fight and test myself. In the last year I had three or four MMA offers, unfortunately none of them worked out.
I have this internal desire to try MMA. Who knows I may soon die or have serious health issues and I don’t want to regret that I’ve never fought in mixed martial arts competition. I’ll try it to test myself. If I perform well, I’ll be satisfied. KSW is the best promotion in Poland and one of the best in Europe. They gave me a fair financial offer, so I signed the deal. This is a desire to have a few new marks and bruisers, to have a real fight, after all it’s what it’s about.
You say that you want to test yourself in MMA. Isn’t the money your primary motivation?
- The money is obviously a great motivation. If I said that I was an idealist and I didn’t do for money, I would lie. If I received a unsatisfying offer, I wouldn’t be doing this. I’ve got a fair contract, but as I said before my life revolves around combat sports. I fought in kickboxing, boxing, muay thai & K-1, I trained judo and briefly Brazilian ju-jitsu. Now they all evolved to MMA. Whenever you enter a sports website it’s all about MMA. On top of that I want to test myself, I want of evolve as a fighter. I know that I have to work on my ground game, learn new tricks and that’s also a motivation. Television exposure is also important. When the TV is involved, it’s easier to have sponsors . The promoter earns, the manager earns, the guy selling hot-dogs earns and first and foremost the fighter earns money.
Have you already started training the all aspects of the MMA game. We know your stand-up is good, what about your grappling?
- My ground is very good. I’ve been recently promoted to the BJJ black belt (laughing). Since I started my kickboxing career I’ve always thought about MMA. I’ve always thought about trying this sport and I trained ground game from time to time. Now I have a full MMA training. Stand-up is still my base, because this the area when I’m the best, but I can’t say that ground game is just an entertainment for me. I take it really seriously and work as hard as possible. I trained with Lukasz Jurkowski, fighters from my gym, as well as Mariusz Felczak and Tomasz “Kongo” Janiszewski. They help me a lot and I hope that I’ll be also able to work with Krzysztof Kulak. I’ve just been contacted with him by Maciej Kawulski and I’m really eager to train with him. I respect him and his image. Well I don’t know him personally and but I enjoy his in-ring persona. There’s a good chance we’ll understand each other, cause we have a similar outlook on many issues.
Please tell us what are the biggest differences between preparing for K-1 and MMA bouts?
- For sure, in MMA I have to forget about throwing high kicks, middle kicks or spinning back kicks, these are the easiest to catch by the grapplers. I put a strong emphasis on lowkicks, that’s my main weapon. I focus on lowkicks, boxing techniques and a lot knees. In K-1 knee strikes are very limited, there is no fighting in the clinch in contrast with muay thai fights. That’s why I’m concentrated mostly on my lowkicks, knees and boxing. I also work a lot on my sprawl to be able to stop takedowns. I guess these are the main differences.
You fought at heavyweight in K-1. What was the weight limit then?
- Ninety-five and up. For instance I weighed one hundred and two kilograms and fought opponents who were thirty kilograms heavier.
Your KSW 15 fight will be contested under the one hundred and five weight limit. Weren’t you tempted to cut down to light heavyweight (ninety-three kilograms)?
- I walk around about one hundred and two kilograms. To tell you the truth I believe in fate. What was meant to be is meant to be, it makes no sense to change it. You have to take what you get. My weight is close to one hundred and five and I feel good fighting in this category. If it’s my destiny, I fight my heart out and I execute my plan, you’ll see a good scrap. If I fail deliver, I’ll accept the consequences.
Have you already talked to KSW promoters about your opponent?
- No. For me it’s a secondary issue. I’ve never been concerned about my opponents. Early in my career I would receive a phone call about a fight and the first thing I’d ask was the money not the opponent. Many time I was preparing for one guy and “bum” a day before the fight there was a change. What happens then? Should I hang myself? No! I had wins against good fighters and losses to lesser opponents. There is no fixed rule, you can beat anybody and at the same time anybody can beat you. This posturing in the interviews that you are the best have no sense. You have to fight as hard as possible, take some punches and let it all out in the ring. We don’t determine the winner.
You train and live in Plock. Warsaw is not that far away. Can we expect a lot of Rozal fans at KSW 15 in March?
- The stick has two ends. Sometimes when you have a tough moment or you are tired the support of your fans helps tremendously. Sometimes it stiffens you up, because you feel the pressure and want to perform the best you could. More often than not, when you want it too hard, you don’t succeed. It’s a two-edged sword.
I once fought in Turkey, where the fans wanted to kill and if not for the security they would have probably gutted me like a ram. I’ll be very grateful for fans’ support, however, in the ring you are alone and can count only on yourself.
Who will be in you corner?
- I’ll definitely have one of my ground coaches, as well my stand-up partner Darek Rzeszkowski.
Your nickname is Rozal, but watching you hair I wonder why not “The Polish Tong Po”. - Well, in general I don’t like nicknames like “Dancing with the knives” or ”The murderer”. As for my hair, you’re right. When I first watched the “Kickboxer” and saw Tong Po, I kicked all the trees in my neighborhood. You know long hair in this sport is probably not the best idea, but I started growing it a long time ago and it doesn’t bother me much. I don’t know how long I’ll let it grow, though.
Marcin thanks your time and good luck in your KSW debut.
- Thanks.
Interview by Artur Przybysz
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