MMA is an unforgiving endeavour. The harshest reminders of how brutal it can be occur within professional confines.
One such instance went down last week in the first pay-per-view event in a long time for Polish promoter MMA Attack. Making a return after their last event in 2013, MMA ATTACK 4 featured a bloody bout to close out the event held at Bedzin Arena in Poland.
Polish fighter Mateusz Makarowski and his opponent Krystian Blezien felt the full wrath of mixed martial arts in their fight against each other. The two left it all out there for three rounds straight, with each round disfiguring them a little bit more than the last.
The first round was fairly even, with Blezien landing more strikes compared to Makarowski's more powerful ones. Both fighters traded more often and packed more in their strikes in the second round with visible damage showing on both their faces.
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The third round turned on the crowd, who went berserk at the sheer heart and will shown by both men as they continued to battle hard through all the blood and gore. Ultimately, it was Mateusz Makarowski who won over the judges and scored a decision victory.
A fan posted headshots of the two fighters in the aftermath of their showdown. The two fighters looked completely unrecognizable with multiple cuts and swellings.
"To write that the guys left their heart and health in the cage is like writing nothing." [translation via Google]
Check out the tweet here.
Watch the epic violence exhibited by the two fighters in the YouTube video below [fight starts at 1:23:40]:
Krystian Blezien shows respect to Mateusz Makarowski after their brutal MMA exchange
The aftermath of the fight may be a true display of what mixed martial arts is all about. Krystian Blezien and Mateusz Makarowski brawled for 15 minutes straight and inflicted heavy punishment on each other. But that didn't stop Blezien from showing some class after the fight.
Blezien congratulated the victorious Makarowski in an Instagram post:
"The dust after Saturday's fight on @mmaattack has already settled down, but the wounds are still healing ๐ After the fight, as after watching it twice, I am convinced that two rounds were mine which is equivalent to my victory and that's not just my opinion ๐ But it's in the past and me NOT FEELING DEFEATED Thanks to my opponent for a great, hard and bloody fight โ๏ธ @mefiumma you are the GOAT ๐ "
Blezien voiced that he felt he had the fight in the bag with the first two rounds going his way but nonetheless chose to move past that and expressed that the performance did not feel like a defeat after his display of valor.
He then thanked his opponent graciously and called him the 'GOAT'. Perhaps the greatest takeaway from this fight is the pride in the discipline of MMA and the respect towards one's opponent.
Check out the Instagram post below: