Krzysztof Soszynski

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 IFL
4 The Ultimate Fighter
5 UFC Career
6 Mixed martial arts record
7 Gallery
8 External links

Profile

Krzysztof "The Polish Experiment" Soszynski (born August 2, 1977) is a Polish/Canadian professional mixed martial artist and was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir.

He stands 6 ft. 1 in. (185cm) tall and fights in the light heavyweight division (205 lbs.).

Soszynski is a veteran of the IFL and Strikeforce promotions and currently fights as a light heavyweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Krzysztof Soszynski made his professional mixed martial arts debut on September 13, 2003 against Matt Lafromboise for the Minnesota based, Absolute Ada Fights promotion. Soszynski defeated Lafromboise via submission due to strikes at 3:23 of round 1.

Soszynski followed his successful debut with two more first round finishes in smaller shows, before entering a one night four man tournament held by the International Cage Combat organization in April of 2004. Soszynski defeated Jack Burton in the opening round (rear naked choke) and Dennis Stull in the final (TKO) to capture the ICC Heavyweight Championship.

A little over a month later, Soszynski suffered his first professional loss as he went down to future YAMMA competitor, Chris Tuchscherer via decision.

After picking up two victories to rebound from his first loss, Soszynski then dropped his next three fights to future UFC competitor, Matt Horwich, Martin Desilets and Brian Schall respectively.

Soszynski halted his three fight losing streak when an inadvertent thumb from Mike Kyle at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Gracie in March of 2006, had the fight ruled a technical draw.

IFL

In April of 2006, Soszynski had his first fight with the International Fight League. He faced tough Miletich product, Ben Rothwell and went down via TKO in just under four minutes of round 1.

After picking up a Kimura submission win in the Canadian based, TKO organization after the Rothwell loss, Soszynski returned to the IFL where he picked up his first victory in the promotion as he scored a TKO over Tom Howard (0-4) at 3:47 of round 1.

Just twenty days later, Soszynski picked up the TKO heavyweight title when he stopped UFC veteran, Icho Larenas at the end of the second round.

Soszynski pushed his win streak to four as he submitted Devin Cole with an armbar in the second round of an IFL event in November of 2006.

That win streak was snapped just under two months later as he was on the losing end of a unanimous decision to TUF 2 competitor, Mike Whitehead at the IFL Championship Final.

Soszynski kicked off 2007 with a unanimous decision victory over another TUF 2 veteran in Dan Christison in March.

Fights in June and August of 2007 marked Soszynski's last fights for the IFL as he disappointly went down in both with a split decision loss to Reese Andy and a 13 second TKO defeat in a rematch with Ben Rothwell.

The Ultimate Fighter

Following his departure from the IFL, Soszynski racked up three victories in various promotions with two of the wins coming via disqualification.

Soon after his last fight against Marcus Hicks (victory by Kimura), Soszynski was signed up as a light heavyweight for the 8th season of the UFC produced, SpikeTV reality TV show, The Ultimate Fighter, The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir.

Soszynski earned his spot in the house when he picked up a quick TKO victory over Mike Stewart in the preliminary round.

In Episode 9 of the series, Soszynski faced Team Nogueira's Kyle Kingsbury. Soszynski beat Kingsbury up on the feet early, forcing Kingsbury to shoot for a takedown. From the takedown, Soszynski quickly went to a high guard which transitioned into an armbar forcing the tap, moving Soszynski into the semi finals.

In the semis, Soszynski faced highly decorated Brazilian jiu jitsu competitor and Team Quest training partner, Vinny Magalhaes. Magalhaes pulled guard and used his superior grappling ability to submit Soszynski quickly with an armbar, eliminating "The Polish Experiment" from the competition.

Soszynski returned at The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale against Team Nogueira's Shane Primm. The fight showed Soszynski to be the superior fighter as in the second Soszynski earned "Submission of the Night" honors when he tapped Primm with a Kimura.

UFC Career

Soszynski made his post-TUF UFC career at UFC 97 on April 18, 2009 when he faced former WEC light heavyweight champion, Brian Stann on the main card. Soszynski made surprisingly quick work of Stann, as he scored an early takedown and secured an easy kimura submission from side control in the first round.

Soszynski will make a quick return to competition at UFC 98 when he replaces Houston Alexander on short notice to face IFL veteran, Andre Gusmao.