We are privileged to talk to a veteran of the sport of MMA today. Przemyslaw ‘Misiek’ Mysiala has been around the sport since 2004 and has a record of 17-9. Originally from Poland, Misiek is now living in London, fighting out of London Shootfighters in the Light Heavyweight Division.
We wanted to know how Misiek got into MMA originally and he remembers back to ten years ago.
“It is quite a long story but I originally started training for defence reasons. Then I started in BJJ as I was looking for techniques and to get more and more into it. There were very few people in Poland doing MMA when I started but a few were doing competitions. I thought to myself, I want to jump in and give it a go. I had to pay for my first two fights which I lost”.
Misiek goes on to tell us who he likes as a fighter and how a typical week is for him with regards to training and work.
“I really like the likes of Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson because they are tough fighters. I work in Security as my day job, I used to work five days a week for 12 hours a day and then train at night. Now I do not do as much of the Security work but I have started to teach MMA classes so I am doing more teaching and training than working which is much better”.
Misiek made his debut in MMA over ten years ago in February 2004 and remembers how he felt at the time and what it was like doing MMA in Poland.
“It was quite nerve racking making the debut but not scary. When I started out, it was an illegal sport in Poland and there were no rules. Well the rules were no biting or eye pokes but other than that you could literally do anything including head butting your opponent. It was definitely more crazy back then”.
Misiek lost his first fight and then took a rematch against the same opponent which he also lost. He tells us more about the fights.
“The first fight I lost very badly so I asked for a rematch. In the second fight, I feel I did really well but I took a cut to the eyebrow. I thought I was winning the fight but because of the cut the fight was stopped”.
After his first two losses, Misiek then went on to win his next three fights and he tells us he felt great getting that all important first win and continuing the winning streak.
Misiek has 17 wins to his name. 6 come by way of TKO, 10 by Submission and 1 via Decision. It looks like he is better on the ground than in the stand-up with his losses of 9 coming by way of 7 TKO’s, 1 Submission and 1 Decision.
“I am better on the ground and I get this from my training in BJJ. But I think I have trained a lot to improve my stand-up and it has definitely got better than it used to be and is my biggest improvement”.
Having fought on many shows, Misiek is looking forward to making his debut on Fury but tells us his favourite show he has fought on is ADFC because they look after the fighters very well.
Misiek takes on James Hurrell on July 12th on Fury. James has a record of 6-4 with all of his wins coming by way of TKO. His losses are split evenly between 2 TKO’s and 2 Submissions. How is Misiek preparing for James?
“I am not doing anything specific. For me it is always the same. I train the same no matter who my opponent is and that includes working on my ground and stand-up game”.
With James entering the cage on a TKO loss to Mohammed Ali, Misiek is entering on a Submission win against Lloyd Clarkson. Obviously, James will want to get another win and Misiek continue with his winning ways. But with much more experience does Misiek think this will work in his favour and where does he see the fight going.
“I think my experience will help me. I never disrespect any opponent and I am not disrespecting James because a fight is a fight. I can say that wherever the fight ends up going, I will go with it and take the win”.
Looking back over the years and the many fights Misiek has had, we wanted to know who has been his toughest opponent to date and if he has a favourite fight.
“My toughest fight was against King Mo Lawal, he was very heavy handed and rated the top ten in the world. I don’t have a favourite fight because, win or lose I have learned something from every fight I have taken”.
Looking to the future what are Misiek’s long term goals and is there anyone he would like to fight specifically.
“I would like to train and fight to get as high as I possibly can in MMA and end up fighting on some of the big shows. I don’t have anyone I would particularly like to fight, I will fight anyone”.
With many years of experience what advice can Misiek offer other MMA athletes?
“The only advice I can give to anyone within MMA is to keep going and never give up”.
So to close, let Misiek gives us his prediction for his fight against James Hurrell in just over two weeks’ time.
“Of course I am going to win against James Hurrell by whatever means. A submission win would be good but whatever way it goes, I am going to win”.
What an interesting interview learning about fighting back when it was still illegal in Poland and how far Misiek has come. Thank you to Misiek for his time. He would like to thank the following people.
“I would like to thank my family, my sponsors; Pitbull West Coast and Cutting Edge Sports Nutrition, my coaches; Alexis and Paul at London Shootfighters and my manager, Sid of Mogul Management”.
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