Seef District, Bahrain - 17 May 2021All Polish power-hitter Maciej “Magic Man” Gierszewski ever wanted to do in the prime years of his existence was to become a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) athlete.
From the moment he had his first glimpse of the sport’s enthralling nature, Gierszewski fell in love so hard with MMA and vowed to be a competitor who would alway put fans at the edge of their seats.
Gierszewski did just that, building a reputation as a knockout artist from the amateur level to the pro ranks—shutting the lights out on opponents who dared to stand in front of him inside the cage.
Despite having a bright future and potential, Gierszewski contemplated the idea of bidding farewell to the sport in 2018 as it was no longer financially viable to support his family.
“I was already at the stage where I want to give up MMA,” he revealed. “Aside from doing MMA, I was working at a construction site. For years, I had to wake up at 4 am for training, and then I had to go to work after. Then after work, I had to train again in the gym. I got home very late.”
“My wife then told me, ‘Maciej, your family misses you. You are out everyday working and training. You are never home.’ Then I started to realize what she’s saying because I wasn’t getting regular fights nor earning good purses from it,” Gierszewsk continued.
As he was about to move on from his prizefighting career and hang up his four-ounce gloves for good, BRAVE Combat Federation gave him a call and offered him a short-notice bout in London against Irish standout Cian Cowley.
“I got a call from BRAVE CF. I don’t know what to expect at first. But I was in shape, so I took the fight. They sent me the contract, but it’s for one fight. Regardless, I was happy to get that offer,” Gierszewski recalled.
Gierszewski shined the brightest in his promotional debut at BRAVE CF 24 in July 2019, silencing the crowd at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as they were in awe of his one-punch knockout of Cowley in the second round.
His impressive performance against the Irishman paved the way for him to earn a lucrative multi-year contract under the banner of the Bahrain-based MMA organization.
“As soon as I got my contract, I left my day job. I focused 100 percent on MMA, training three times a day,” he shared. “I am finally in the spot where I wanted to be all my life.”
Looking back, Gierszewski stressed that BRAVE CF is the main reason why he gets to live out his childhood dream to this day.
“They gave me a second chance,” he said. “I am blessed they found me. I am a happy man. I can get to do what I love to do.”
In his first assignment this year, Gierszewski made quite an impression yet again by stopping Brazilian veteran Felipe Silva in the first round at historic BRAVE CF 50 last April.
The promotion has already lined up a follow-up to that monumental card as BRAVE CF 51: The Future Is Here is set to take place at the state-of-the-art Falcon Club Arena in Minsk, Belarus on June 4th.
Belarus will be the seventh European country that BRAVE CF has visited since spearheading a strategic expansion in the continent in 2018.
With the records that BRAVE CF has broken over the past few years, Gierszewski believes the balance of power in European MMA starts to favor the company that gave him a new lease on life.
“It looks like BRAVE CF is taking over Europe. They have been to many countries in Europe. For a promotion, that’s unheard of. Nobody does that, and nobody has done that before,” he stated. “They have only been in the market for over four years, and look at what they have done for the sport. Truly amazing!”
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