Legendary strongman Mariusz Pudzianowski suffered an absolutely gruesome eye injury during Irish debut

The first time Mariusz Pudzianowski was in Ireland, he suffered a nightmare injury. Well, to any normal human, this type of injury would be considered the stuff of nightmares, but Mariusz Pudzianowski is no ordinary human. To him, it was 'nothing major.' In 2002, Pudzianowski came to Ireland for the World's Giants strongman competition. Although he won the tournament, he did so after overcoming adversity.

"I remember that World's Giants in 2002 was a really tough tournament. It was so hard that my eyeballs filled with blood and for two weeks I looked like a vampire." "I won even though I got injured during one of the competitions. Basically when I was lifting heavy stuff, it just happened. I was so motivated to win. It didn't stop me. I was still number one."

https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/921470766134321153 15 years later, Pudzianowski will make his competitive return to Ireland to headline the KSW 40 show in the 3Arena against Jay Silva, a late replacement for James McSweeney. Mixed martial arts is a different challenge and he has had to adjust his training accordingly since making the switch from the strongman world.

"I'm training all the same, but now I’m taking less weight for more repetitions. I had a lot of muscles but made of strength fibres not endurance fibres. It’s really hard to train both MMA and strongman but it’s incomparable. It’s like you would like to compare miner and construction worker – both jobs are very difficult but totally different." "What do I prefer? I can’t choose. In Strongman I had to train all parts of my body, now I have to improve all aspects of the game: grappling, wrestling and striking."

For anyone looking to lift heavier in the gym, Pudzianowski has some truth bombs to drop on you.

"There is nothing to philosophise. You need to train systematically and be patient. This is the key to everything."

There's no replacement for hard work. There is no shortcut.