Mixed martial Arts : rob sulski london shootfighters

Rob Sulski :Well, I was born in Poland right and in my country it's really different for sports (Rob later explains off the tape, that in Poland any sporting talent is spotted and encouraged at an early age). For martial arts, I started doing kickboxing about 8 years old and after that some Sambo and some wrestling. A friend of mine, young guy, was a freestyle wrestler and sometimes he'd come over to my place and we'd do some techniques and stuff.

SFUK : So you've been doing it all your life really...

Rob Sulski : Yeah, quite long actually, yeah. But put it this way, not professionally, right, like most of my friends back home do it just for a living. Just wrestle. What they can do is they just study as well, but they don't work - the country pays for that and they are sponsored by some companies, like mobile phone companies.

SFUK : This is like freestyle wrestling right?

Rob Sulski : Freestyle, yeah. That's what they do. They get to train twice a day. Everything is organised...if they win this club, the club organises bouts against another club, so basically they get around 2 competitions a month.

SFUK : When did you start to take this seriously?

Rob Sulski : Actually when I came over here. About 7 years ago. ...I did see some stuff when I lived in America - the first UFC, when it just came out about 9-10 years ago. When I'd seen it, I thought, wow this is something new. This is excellent and I thought if I get a chance I'm gonna do something. I'd always done something, you know, with people like traditional jujitsu techniques, sambo, you know....somebody shows you this, somebody show you that, you know. Really, I started to do this seriously was when I came to London. I did Sombo with Ross, erm, Mackenzie? A little english guy.
Then I started training with London Shootfighters about 6 years ago.

SFUK : How did you find them?

Rob Sulski : I was pretty surprised in the beginning. I was always physically strong you know, it's my good point. I could pick up almost anything, like in the deadlift I could pick up lots and lots of weight and I had this wrestling movement and it was really hard to take me down for some reason. I didn't have much technique but, like, some people have the balance, put it that way. But when I first came down to London Shootfighters first time I was really surprised. I was tapped out every time yeah.

SFUK : What by Paul & Alexis?

Rob Sulski : *Smiles* The first time I remember when I came there was Jamie (Zikic) there...there was maybe 3 or 4 guys. Paul and Alexis, and Jamie, who had already been there some time, so he knew their techniques. So he (Jamie) broke my heel the first time because I didn't want to give up. But after that we became good friends. I realised it was nothing about strength, it was about practising and I appreciate what those fighters did to me because the first grappling skills I got from them.
And we used to do the gi stuff *big smiles* in those days ya know and it was a funny thing, it was so early and they were saying, like, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was the best *chuckles* and now everything is changed. You get beautiful techniques from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu but Submission Wrestling is completely different and that's what we do now.

SFUK : Going back to Poland, is there much Mixed Martial Arts in Poland? Do you follow it?

Rob Sulski :There is. There is Luta Livre and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The last time I went to Poland was about 8 months ago. I went for about 1 month and was training with some wrestlers at Quiazdar (apologies Rob for the spelling!), which means Star. Star gym. They told me right, that there was BJJ and Luta Livre, so I thought I'd go and have a look.
Those people were pretty OK. They had a seminar as well. There was a BJJ Polish Team, I can't remember his name, like Karl (?), he's like president of the organisation. He was doing seminars and I was asked to come along as well and he was pretty good. I sparred with him as well and I was really surprised. Quite good standard, they need to learn more techniques still but his teaching and their stamina was excellent .

SFUK : How did you do against them?

Rob Sulski : *holding a smile* I think good, you know. The first time I went they were cocky, they didn't know I had done some stuff before. They thought I was a freestyle wrestler and you know it's a completely different story yeah. But I was repeating their moves *sways from side to side* and I didn't say nothing. When we start sparring I start tapping them...until I went to the instructor and he was pretty OK. Aikido background for 20 years, he was really into martial arts and all this grappling and jiu-jitsu techniques and he was a big guy. 120 kilos, really big guy and I did well. I was better than him. There was a really good atmosphere. I showed them some techniques I learnt and they showed me some new things...and I didn't have to pay for a class either heheheh.

SFUK : So do you think it's going to grow?

Rob Sulski : I think so because they go all over around European competitions. They do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gi and no gi and I've been asked to join the Polish Team *chuckles*.

SFUK : Are you gonna join? - why not?

Rob Sulski : Well, it's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu...and well, if they say it's Submission Wrestling yeah, I would, but I don't want to join Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu because I don't like the rules. It's completely different.

SFUK : But you've competed in a gi before in one of Lee Hasdell's events (Ring of Truth 2)

Rob Sulski : Sure, I did, yeah, yeah...they asked me to so I trained with a gi. There was a period yeah, we had stopped doing gi for about a year, and then Hasdell asked for me to fight...er, Chris, I forgot his name...the best Lee Hasdell student in those days.

SFUK : Chris Watts

Rob Sulski : Chris Watts, that's right. He really asked to do it with gi, so I trained for a few weeks with gi just to do it. It doesn't make a big difference, it's similar. But the problem is it depends on the rules...those rules were pretty OK, but if you go on points it's really boring. It's not really my thing you know.

SFUK : You won by heelhook didn't you?

Rob Sulski : Heelhook, yeah, I did heelhook him - In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition they would not allow it. It's just different rules.

SFUK : Can you tells us more about your grappling CV?

Rob Sulski : Well I didn't really prepare for that question, so I can't really remember...

SFUK : That's OK, let's just through some of your competitions..

Rob Sulski : Strike and Grapple, Lee Hasdell's Trials which was about 5 years ago and ...

SFUK : What's you biggest success?

Rob Sulski : I think it was (The) Frank Shamrock (Invitational), and I did well. I won the competition. And I thought with those rules I could do well in world class competition.

rob sulski leglock

Sulski leglocking in the Shamrock Invitational final

SFUK : And you at won the Gracie Barra competition in Birmingham recently right?

Rob Sulski : Yes, but I didn't take that very serious. Those guys, they not that good. I had a break for 6 months for my injury then I thought I had to do something and there was a competition coming. That was their first competition in Birmingham, so I thought I'd go there as a warm up. They actually put me in the higher weight division, it was a funny thing, I don't know why they did it but I was supposed to be a heavyweight but not super-heavy. So I competed against guys 8-10 kilos heavier than me. I was a bit surprised but I just thought, just go for it. I did well.

SFUK : Some people reackon you are one of the best submission wrestlers in Europe, what do you think about that?

Rob Sulski : Well...I can't say that really because there's so many people I didn't have a chance to compete against. There's quite a few guys that are pretty good. I would say I was pretty good - European class, but I can't say for sure I'm the best. There's a few guys...Rikard Anderson, there's another guy in Norway, Olav (Einemo) he's meant to be pretty good and he's my weight division...there's a guy in Germany, I forget his name, he went to Abu Dhabi and he's a Luta Livre black belt, he's good as well....and, erm, well Paul (Ivens) is my weight division and he's really good...and...that's it I would say actually...there's another guy as well Leo Negao, he's a world champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he's really good as well and he's a good wrestler as well. And Roger Brooking, the (BJJ) Black Belt, he's very good as well, but I wouldn't say in submission wrestling he would give me lots of grief, but in jiu-jitsu,..his jiu-jitsu is really excellent.

Rob Sulski interview part 2 - Controversy at Rome