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It’s been an incredible 2016 already for SHARK Top Team in Lodz, Poland but they aren’t quite done yet.



KSW 37 Will Be A Night Of Gold

Having made history this month with Karolina Kowalkiewicz fighting in the first ever all-European UFC title match at Madison Square Garden, attention now turns a little closer to home for KSW 37 this Saturday where former TUF contestant Marcin “The Polish Zombie” Wrzosek fights Artur Sowinski for the KSW featherweight title.



17,000 are expected to flock to the Tauron Arena in Krakow, Poland this weekend for what is expected to be KSW’s biggest ever event. While some may feel burdened by the weight of expectation, SHARK Top Team Head Coach, Lukasz Zaborowski insists Wrzosek is ready to take the home the belt Saturday night.



“Marcin is ready for whatever Artur has,” Zaborowski said. “Whether it’s in front of 17 people or 17,000, Marcin is going to get the job done and make him [Sowinski] not want to be in there with him anymore.



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“I’ve known Marcin from the beginning of both of our careers and I remember him stepping on the MMA mat for the first time. There always great connection between us and we understand each other very well. This is his time now and I don’t see anything else but him having his hand raised at the end of the fight.”



Sowinski (17-3-2) has been in incredible form of late and hasn’t been beaten since 2012. All three of his last three wins have come via a decision and while Zaborowski is ready for it to go to deep waters, he believes Wrzosek will have more than enough to deal with the current champion.



“I think Artur will be trying to hit the body a lot to slow Marcin down and maybe take him down later on,” Zaborowski said. “But we are ready for all of that, actually we are ready for anything he has.



“One of Artur’s coaches who weighs around 100 kg was with us on our winter camp and he couldn’t deal with Marcin. They will know that and they will know that we know that—deep down I bet Artur’s coaches don’t think he can win this fight.



Addressing ACB 49 Controversy

Since returning from New York earlier this month, Zaborowski hasn’t been able to rest. The gym has several fights still to compete this year and even last weekend he was in Russia cornering his bantamweight prospect Damian Szmigielski at ACB 49.



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Szmigielsk on the fight via TKO in the first round, however, the victory was marred by a little by the confusing circumstances that arose during the stoppage.



Szmigielsk looked to have secured a clean KO victory with a devastating punch that sent his opponent head first into the canvas, but when his opponent’s head hit the mat he was brought back to consciousness. The referee smartly dove in to call the fight, but at the same time he collided with Szmigielsk who was following up with a hammer fist.



The referee then pushed the arm of Szmigielsk in to an armbar, but the fight was over—it was a confusing few seconds to say the least (replay below), but nonetheless Szmigielsk and Zaborowski had another win for SHARK Top Team.



“We were expecting his opponent to be strong striker, but we knew that and we were confident that Damian would better and we were right,” Zaborowski said. In my opinion there was no controversy because it was the referee who pushed Damian towards the opponent’s legs. From there he was able to grab armbar while the fight was being stopped.



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“After the fight, Damian’s opponent and the owners of ACB admitted it was a good stoppage. ACB is a great organization and they treated us like very well whole the time. I think Damian will be probably fighting on ACB again in early new year.”



“2016 Has Been My Year, Every Year Is My F***ing Year” … Or Words To That Effect

With KSW 37 this weekend and a whole host of other fighters still to compete before 2017, Zaborowski didn’t like to think ahead too much into the next year. Suffice to say though, the goal for the up and coming gym in Lodz, Poland remains the same and just as it’s always been—become the best.



“This year is not over yet, we still have 5 more fights to go so we can talk about upcoming year after that,” Zaborowski said. “At the moment, a lot of the best fighters from around the country are coming to our club to train with our coaches.



“I’m sure next year we will be regarded as one of the best MMA clubs in Europe.”