mixed-martial-arts-wojtek

WOJTEK KASZOWSKI

“I Just Want to Throw a Couple of Shots
and Go Home”

photos © IFL

It’s now Friday evening in Missisauga, Ontario. Wojtek (pronounced Voytek) is lounging at home, watching MTV’s Cribs, and getting some rest after another heavy session at the gym.

Quietly reflecting on what had earlier inspired him to follow the trodden path of so many honorable disciples of the martial arts before him, Wojtek decides: “Probably running away from bullies trying to beat me up, is what got me into it. That seems to be the starter for everybody,” says Kaszowski.

“I began Tae Kwon Do when I was about 10 years old. And my parents agreed that I should do it after my running home and getting beaten up all the time. Kids don’t like it when you’re good at sports and getting good grades, so the bigger kids were always chasing me.”

“My mum said, ‘Enough’s enough: We’ll put you in Tae Kwon Do, get some self defense and see what happens.’ That lead to what I’m doing today. I was big for my age, but there were always five of them and one of me.”

This was just after Wojtek’s parents had moved their family from Poland to Canada, 17 years ago. And taking on a fighting art proved to be the turning point for a boy who seemed to be a natural athlete. “I did all the sports when I was a kid: I was in the basketball and volleyball teams, I played tennis…

“And then when I got into martial arts everything else got put aside. With school and homework… The grades had to be there, right? If the grades weren’t there my parents weren’t going to pay for any of my fun stuff. I had to do homework, and all those years of Tae Kwon Do, and a part-time job…”

Eventually Wojtek wanted to progress more with the fighting arts and he commenced training in mixed martial arts: “With Tae Kwon Do and Karate, obviously they’re not really full contact, so I guess it matured into where I got good enough at it and I liked it so much that – it wasn’t about hitting people, but about going up to the next level, which was full-contact stuff, like kickboxing. I was holding my hands better, so I then went into boxing.

“While doing the boxing, I met certain people involved in wrestling and jiu jitsu. And everything grew from there. If you’re a striker or a wrestler, you know you’re a fighter at heart, so you want to do everything, and eventually that leads you on to MMA.”

Wojtek, are you predominantly a striker or grappler now?

“I’d say a striker. I’ve been doing it for so many years, I think I’ll always be a striker.”

What’s it like training with Carlos Newton?

“That’s pretty awesome. Actually, that’s how I got into MMA. One day I ended up at a boxing gym and he was there with like this army, and they said, ‘Okay, we’re going for a run tomorrow: Show up.’ It was very weird. Nobody said anything else, they just gave me a time to show up, but they never expected to see me there.

“So I showed up the next day. They took me for a run that lasted about ninety minutes and I tore both my calves and couldn’t walk properly for over two months. I couldn’t even walk fast - let alone run. They said I was the biggest guy they’d seen: I was 260 pounds at the time, and I was the only one who had lasted that run.

“From then on, Carlos and I met and started doing boxing, jiu jitsu… And I tried helping him a little bit with his stand-up. We just went from there: That was about five years ago, and we’ve been training together ever since.

“In Toronto, Canada, it’s a little bit harder to find training partners and people who take this sport seriously. In America it’s easier: There are more teams and camps everywhere, and wrestlers who are getting into it. In Canada… Well we didn’t even find each other; we were brought together by the process of elimination, through different training partners, and the limited number of facilities to train at. These were the guys who wanted to do it.”

Does Carlos take the Dragons team through all aspects of the game, or are there other coaches for specific areas of the game?

“Carlos takes us through pretty well all aspects of the game. He makes sure we do our conditioning; he also works us on the ground… Each fighter on the team has different specialties, and does different things, so Carlos makes sure we train together as a team. Then he works with each guy, individually - working on different things he thinks will help them to win.

“We’ve been working together for about six or seven weeks, and he has a keen eye for what is or isn’t going to win the fights for us. He gets us to do what he thinks will win the fights for us, so you can’t ask for anything more.”

You have some very experienced MMA guys in your team - Joe Doerksen (35-9-0) and Dennis Hallman (36-12-2). Does that help the less experienced guys in your team?

“Yeah, Joe has the most professional fights – just over forty pro fights, whereas there are a couple of guys who have no pro fights, whatsoever, but they’re great athletes or great grapplers. I think Rob (Di Censo) is one of them. Actually, I think he’s the only guy who hasn’t had a fight, but he’s a top-class grappler… and training with all of us, I think he’s going to do okay.”

And you have Dennis Hallman, don’t you?

“Yeah, I think Dennis just got on as an alternate. We haven’t got to train together as yet, but we’re hoping he’ll be able to come and train next week, for a week. He was a last-minute addition to our team, I think, which is awesome because he and Joe will add a lot of confidence and experience for the other guys who haven’t had fights.

“Dennis is in Yelm, Washington, so he hasn’t come up to train with us yet, but I’m sure he’s doing fine on his own, and we’re not worried that he’s going to be out of shape or not ready for his fight. But hopefully, we’ll all be able to get together after this Labor Day for a week’s training.”

Do you incorporate a lot of weights in your training?

“I do. Some of the other guys don’t, but I personally do. I’ve always been doing weights – not as a bodybuilder, but I’ve always depended on the weights for strengthening. I do a lot of Olympic lifts, and of course your body grows from doing those things. Some guys say lay off the weights, and some say they slow you down. But I’ve been doing them all my life with training, and for a big guy, I’m pretty flexible and it hasn’t reflected in a negative way at all.”

Do you do any squats or are they all Olympic lifts that you do?

“I do squats and deadlifts. I will start off with the basic squats, the clean and jerks… And as it comes closer to a fight, I’ll lay off a little bit on the heavy lifts, and work more on the endurance. But I’ll have a day where I don’t feel like doing the endurance and I’ll go to the gym, put 500 pounds on the bar and just squat it.”

Is that for reps?

“I’ll squeeze out a couple of reps. I’m sure I could do more if I wasn’t scared of getting injured: That’s always in your mind.”

Do you bench?

“Yeah, I do mainly incline benching.”

What do you bench?

“I’ll give you an example from this week. I don’t go heavy anymore, but for this week on the incline bench I warmed up 145 pounds for two sets of 15, then 225 pounds for a set of 15 reps, 305 pounds for two sets of 8 reps, then back down to 225 pounds for 10 reps.

“I’m sure I could probably do more, but those weights are heavy enough, where I get a good workout.

“But looking out for injuries - straining anything, ligaments… I’ve still got to run, wrestle or spar, so I’ve always got to keep in my mind not to pull anything that will put me out for a week.”

How did you get those huge forearms?

“Ha, ha, you know what? That’s probably just genetic. People ask me… Even at the gym, people come up to me and ask what I do for my forearms, and honestly, I’ve never done any forearm exercises. It must be from doing my biceps. And I tell my sister: ‘You better not do weights or you’ll get forearms like that. They won’t look as good on you as they do on me’.”

The forearms would be good blocking devices.

“Hopefully, I won’t have to do too much blocking. I have some plans of doing some hitting, myself. I don’t want to take too many blocks – just throw a couple of shots and go home.

“But I’ve been doing a lot of wrestling lately, and I’m looking forward to fighting a wrestler now. I fought some really good wrestlers: I fought Brent Beaupalant, and I fought Homer Moore. In my opinion, Brent is one of the best wrestlers in Canada. And Homer… That was actually my first MMA fight. At the time, I think his record was 25-2-0, and I went all the way with both those guys without having done much wrestling, and it’s been a year or two since I fought MMA.

“I’ve just wrestled all the time since then, so I’m confident, and I’m looking forward to fighting wrestlers. I had a couple of kickboxing fights in between to polish off my stand-up, and then wrestling with the best guys in Canada here at the University of Guelph. These guys have been ranked number one in the country, this year, so they’ve been very helpful letting us come and train with them. I can hold my own with them, so I’m sure I can hold my own with in the MMA – maybe even spice it up a little bit.”

When do you fight next?

“September 23^rd.”

Your opponent?

“Dwayne Compton from Frank Shamrock’s Razorclaws.”

What’s your prediction for that fight?

“I am predicting… ha, ha… a very quick knockout. I’d say for sure, under a minute.”

Wojtek, is there anything you’d like to add?

“I’d like to wish my sister good luck. Edyta is getting married on the same day that I’m fighting. She’s my younger and only sister, she’s getting married the same day I’m fighting, and unfortunately I won’t be there.”

Your sponsors?

“Cobra Energy Drink, and cellcino.com.”