"I worked so hard for 6 years to get into the UFC and I'm staying, working hard and fighting well. I looked at it as an opportunity to fight for the UFC again and show everybody I do belong. It really just worked out for me perfectly
if for some reason someone pulls out of the Germany card, I would jump on that card in a heartbeat, but I'm looking for something in August, September or October," stated UFC light heavyweight Krzysztof Sosyzniski as he talked about his impressive win over Andre Gusmao at UFC 98, his future plans and much more. Check it out!
PC: Congratulations on your win over Andre Gusmao at UFC 98.
KS: Thank you very much!
PC: It's always tough to take a fight on short notice, but how much did it help you that you had just fought at UFC 97?
KS: Taking this fight on short notice wasn't all that bad. I had just fought 3 to 4 weeks before. I took 2 weeks off after that fight against Brian Stann and then I jumped right back in. I was already in shape. I had a couple of weeks where I pigged out a little bit. I had a lot of bad food and stuff, but aside from that, it was pretty good for me because I had just fought. Mentally, I was ready so it was best for me to fight.
PC: How did you end up filling the slot? Did they give you a call and you jumped right on it?
KS: Joe texted me at about 11:00 in the evening on Saturday exactly 3 weeks before the fight. I texted him back "yeah" right away. It didn't matter who it was or of it was a week away. I just said yeah because it was another opportunity to fight for the UFC. Things are going great for me. I was on a roll and things just worked out perfectly.
PC: How much weight did you have to cut to make the 205-pound limit?
KS: I wasn't too bad. I was only around 231-232 pounds. For me to cut 25 pounds in 2 weeks was not bad at all.
PC: I think you've answered the question of "Are you just a guy with a good kimura?" Do you feel you showed off some of your striking skills as well?
KS: Absolutely! I think a lot of people thought I was just a Jits guy or a guy that just takes people down and beats my opponents up or trys to submit them, but I have striking as well. I've been working on it pretty hard and it's coming along really well. I think with that knockout victory, when people face me now, they don't have to just worry about my submission game and my wrestling, but my hands as well.
PC: Andre has great Jiu Jitsu. It appeared you were really focused on keeping this fight standing. Was that the plan?
KS: 100%. We definitely wanted to test his chin out. Any time you fight a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, and my Jiu Jitsu game is decent, but it's not the best, so I didn't want to give him any opportunities, so we wanted to test out his chin to see if he could take a punch. The second after I landed my first shot, I saw something in his eyes that told me to just keep punching and eventually I will get him and that's exactly what happened.
PC: He threw some really good kicks at you early. Was it just a matter of closing the distance, so his kicks wouldn't be effective, and landing your shots?
KS: Absolutely! The fight only lasted 3 minutes. The 1st round is usually when you're feeling each other out, so I wanted to get my timing down. I knew he was going to be kicking a lot, but I think what happened was I caught one of his kicks very well with my shin and from then on, he never kicked or anything, so I thought he might have hurt his kicking leg. So after that, he stopped kicking and it was just me going after him.
PC: Any time you're fighting a guy that's firing off a lot of kicks, you have to worry about low blows. Any of them do any damage?
KS: Not at all. When I fought for HDNet and I took six shots to the nuts against Alex Andrade, I bought a steel cup, so I'm wearing a steel cup for all of my fights now. I have for my last 4 or 5 fights now. Actually, the one that he got me with just grazed me and it didn't hurt that much. The referee gave me a second to recover and then I think I kicked him back in the nuts too, so I apologized to him for that as well.
PC: Were you able to find footage on Andre or had you seen him fight before?
KS: Gusmao and I fought twice on the same card in the IFL days, so I kind of saw him a couple times from those days. I did get to watch the Jon Jones fight from last year. I got that footage pretty quickly so that definitely helped out, but as soon as they mentioned him, I remembered him from the IFL days. I knew he was a Jiu Jitsu guy, so that helped me out.
PC: You were coming off of a very impressive win over Stann. Did you have risking that moment in the back of your mind to take this fight on short notice?
KS: To be honest, I didn't really care. I know I was coming off of a huge win against Brian Stann. That fight was on the main card, this fight was on the undercard and it was on the very next UFC so I only had a couple of weeks. But to be honest with you, it didn't really matter. I worked so hard for 6 years to get into the UFC and I'm staying, working hard and fighting well. I looked at it as an opportunity to fight for the UFC again and show everybody I do belong. It really just worked out for me perfectly.
PC: You seem to have too much fun in that cage man. No one can wipe that smile off of your face.
KS: To be honest, I train so hard and I work so hard out of the ring that when I get in there for the fight, it's time to have fun in there. When you train 4, 5 or 6 hours a day and just put in hard work
I just want to enjoy myself and go out there and have a good time. I actually have a big smile on my face because I'm actually enjoying myself. I'm enjoying this huge ride and no matter who is in front of me, I'm still going to walk out with a huge smile on my face. I'm going to walk out and shake my opponents hand and have a huge smile on my face. That's the way it works.
PC: What is next for you my man?
KS: Right now, the focus is on Dan Henderson. He, of course, has the fight coming up with Bisping, so I'm just in the gym focusing on helping Dan get ready for his fight. Me personally, if for some reason someone pulls out of the Germany card, I would jump on that card in a heartbeat, but I'm looking for something in August, September or October.
PC: It's beginning to get fun watching you grow in the UFC. Your all-around skills are really coming together. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
KS: I want to thank the fans for the support. I'm on a roll and I'm going to keep it going. If anybody wants to check out my website, it's www.ksos.info and again thank you for everything.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]