World's Strongest Man Eddie Hall will be 'unstoppable steam engine' in Mariusz Pudzianowski fight, until one key moment
03/28/2025 05:00 PM
Eddie Hall is expected to fly out of the traps in his MMA debut, but the veteran Mariusz Pudzianowski knows how to handle his early onslaught.
Both competitors are former World’s Strongest Man winners, and will swap strongman for the MMA cage at KSW 105 on April 26 in Gliwice, Poland. Hall, from the UK, has fought just once in MMA during a bizarre 2v1 ‘freak fight’ where he knocked out featherweight social media stars the Neffati Brothers.
He has also boxed in a losing effort to Hafthor Bjornsson, and has been training MMA since a tournament of strongmen was slated for Qatar last year. Meanwhile, Pudzianowski is a serious contender at heavyweight and has competed 27 times over 16 years since making the switch.
Mariusz Pudzianowski details how he will put an end to ‘unstoppable steam engine’ Eddie Hall
For the past eight months, Eddie Hall and Mariusz Pudzianowski have been locked in negotiations with KSW to organize a massive super-heavyweight fight. Eventually, they came to terms on a slightly-adjusted ruleset that includes just two rounds of four minutes and longer breaks between those rounds.
At 48, the Polish veteran is 11 years Hall’s senior and has seen it all in heavyweight MMA. However, he hasn’t competed for two years, and notes that he will have to fight off a massive early attack in order to win this battle of the giants.
“Eddie is not like some bar room brawler,” Pudzianowski told media after facing off with the Brit for the first time today. “He is a really strong guy who weighs 160kg (over 352lb) today and on April 26 I believe will be 150kg (over 330lb).
“I know what it means because I come from the same source so for the first two minutes it will be an unstoppage steam engine. It’s only that I still have some of this strength and I have the experience before youth and some cunning.
“So if I do not let myself be caught by a cheap trick it should be fine. But let’s not underestimate it. He is a heavyweight and his hands weigh a lot.”
Eddie Hall is training with Tom Aspinall team for Mariusz Pudzianowski fight
Hall has a lot of work to do to be ready for an experienced operator like Pudzianowski in time for April 26. He has just six minutes of cage time to his name, which was almost entirely spent avoiding the double attacks of the Neffati brothers.
“I’m going up to the Tom Aspinall camp on a regular basis and we have those conversations about what we should and shouldn’t be doing,” he told the media today. “But I have a great coach, Gee Oakes whose son is European K1 kickboxing champion.
“So I’ve got some good coaches at home who give great advice and we have some good plans. I’d be stupid to say exactly what my plan is but I am 100 per cent consulting with the Aspinall camp.”
