Soszynski Agrees To Fight Vera at UFC 102 After Hamill Withdraws With Injury
Krzysztof Soszynski has agreed to fight Brandon Vera in a light heavyweight contest at UFC 102 on August 29 in Portland, Oregon after Vera’s original opponent, Matt Hamill, was forced to withdraw from the bout due to a knee injury.
Sherdog first reported the injury and replacement earlier Monday.
Soszynski (18-8-1), an IFL veteran who advanced to the semis on The Ultimate Fighter 8, has won three-straight bouts inside the Octagon and six-straight overall. After defeating Shane Primm with the “Submission of the Night” at the TUF 8 Finale in December, “The Polish Experiment” won back-to-back fights in April and May over Brian Stann and Andre Gusmao.
Vera (10-3), a former heavyweight contender who had lost 3 out of 4 previous fights, rebounded in March with a second-round leg kick TKO of Mike Patt to improve his UFC record to 6-3 since making his Octagon debut in 2005.
According to MMAjunkie, Hamill, who is coming off back-to-back knockouts of Reese Andy and Mark Munoz, suffered a meniscus tear and will soon undergo surgery to repair the injury, but is expected to resume training in 3 to 4 weeks.
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[Pictured: Krzysztof Soszynski]
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This is an even better fight than hamill vs vera! I like vera in this match. Krystov won’t be able to hang with his speed and his muay thai and unless he gets “the truth” down to the mat for a kimora, then I don’t see him winning this fight. Pretty good match for both fighter to climb the 205 rankings.
Kimura, his weapon of choice!
wow, this is a big step up for KS…heavy kudos on him for taking fights at the drop of a hat, but he’s in deep here.
i think they should of tried and threw cane at him that would be sweet
For those Cane supporters carrying on about “we want our man to fight a name, we want Franklin”, I’d respectfully submit that either Vera or Soszynski is a far more appropriate match-up at this early stage of UFC career than a contender like Rich Franklin.
Maybe Cane gets the winner?
As for the fight itself, if Vera decides to take MMA seriously, he has the tools and the talent to get past Soszynski and make his way up the rankings…
The standup game goes to Vera,I like his muay thai abilities (when he decides to actually fight) and on the ground I would give a slight, and I do mean slight, advantage to Soszynski. I’m not entirely sure that Soszynski will be able to take “The Truth” down so I will have to side with Vera on this one.
I think this fight just got a lot easier for Vera, but if they both decide to keep it standing it should be exciting.
I agree Justin, that with Krystofabvanvbovl stepping up to take this fight (good on him for doing so) Vera just got a easier person to stand with, now no disrespect to Soszynski but he doesn’t have the takedown power that Hamill has and well that will create issues for him throughout the fight,,, then again it this is all depending on which Vera shows up
Hopefully the same Brandon Vera that we saw in his first 4 UFC fights.
Soszynski shall win this fight easy i tell….ya vera looked good against mike patt but Soszynski is alot better now than he was in his ifl days…..Soszynski by kimura
“I WANT BJ’S BELT!!!!”
I agree that he has came a long way since his days of get pwned by sloth, I mean Ben Rothwell, but I really don’t think his standup has improved enough to defeat “The Truth” and I don’t see him taking Vera down easily/ multiple times.
I like both fighters here. If Vera keeps his mind focused, this SHOULD be a fight he’ll win. Vera’s stand up is just vicious, but Krysztof is no slouch. If Vera thinks this will be a walk in the park and tones down his training due to this replacement, he may very well get taken down and submitted.
But let’s be honest, Soszynski’s nickname should be “The Polish Workhorse”. He went back to back UFCs at 97 and 98 (winning both quite fashionably), and now he’s there at 102. 3 fights in 7 months!!!!! And 2 of those are on “short notice”. Go Krysztof!!!!!
i completely agree eldiablo. although his sig move is the Kimora, i think that alot of people are overlooking the fact that he won his last fight by knockout. Krystof isnt getting enough credit for his standup abilities. i see him coming out on top of “The Truth”.
this is a tough matchup for kimura guy. i think vera is too much for him right now and he will lose a close split decision.
sweet i hope he beats vera could shoot him up in the ratings!
I hate Hammil is hurt!!! I was sooo looking forward to Hammil/Vera!!
I hope Vera is the new and Improved version and destroys Krystof.
Vera should become with all his tools and abilitys a serious threat. Should being the Key word….
This is a tough fight for me because I like krzysztof, and hes Canadian to boot(kinda) But his stand up didnt look that good against Stann or Gousmau, then again Vera looked ok against MIKE PATT so its tough to say. I think after taking a few straight punches from Vera and a barrage of his various kicks, krzysztof will likely look to take the fight to the ground where its a toss up. But if he winds up on top Il give him the edge.
carls – good point about Soszynski’s performance against Brian Stann.
Although he won the fight, he didn’t look all that comfortable trading stikes with Stann, who has really good boxing skills and a lot of heart.
If Soszynski trades with Vera, Vera’s Thai boxing is going to do more than just make Soszynski uncomfortable, he may in fact KTFO him.
krzysztof showed very improved striking against gousmau i mean he ko’d the guy with a pretty good combo…….and against stann he really didnt have a chance to strike because he knew exactly were the fight was easiest to go to…which is the ground..so imo krzysztof is a really smart fighter and i think he might be able to get something done against vera…i mean he has a great ground game and he used to fight at heavy weight so lets see
as usual whats on paper means nothing when you step into the oct.
both of these fighters are ” unpredictable ” with what will happen..
will “the Truth” show up and perform at his best, will krystof stand and strike or take him down and go for the sub… hell i could see krystof pulling a sakuraba, and do a standing kimura… you never know
this should be a good fight for both fighters…
i pick krystof for the win UD