The 2016 MMA National Olympic Teams: Poland

With the 2016 Summer Olympics scheduled for Aug. 5-21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sherdog.com staff and contributors sat down to put together hypothetical MMA Olympic teams for the following countries: United States, Canada, Japan, Great Britain, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Sweden, Poland and Australia. This 10-part series will map out the yellow brick road to Rio de Janeiro for the men and women who call the cage home, Zika virus be damned.*** Nestled in Central Europe and home to roughly 40 million people, Poland has produced its share of Olympic athletes. None have shined brighter than track and field star Irena Szewinska. Szewinska remains the most decorated Polish Olympian in history, with a total of seven medals on her mantle. She reached the podium in four consecutive Olympics, starting in 1964 and ending in 1976. During that remarkable 12-year run, Szewinska struck gold on three occasions: in the 4x100m relay at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, in the 200m at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City and in the 400m at the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal. She also won two silvers, in the 200m and long jump, in 1964, a bronze in the 100m in 1968 and a bronze in the 200m in 1972. Poland enjoyed its best showing as a country at the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow. There, Polish athletes set a team record by capturing 32 medals, good for 10th among all participating countries. Bronislaw Malinowski (men’s 3000m steeplechase), Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz (men’s pole vault) and Jan Kowalczyk (equestrian) all stood atop the podium that year. Success in combat sports at the Olympics has also been a source of pride for Poles. Boxer Jerzy Kulej, judoka Waldemar Legien and wrestler Andrzej Wronski were all two-time gold medalists in their chosen fields. That commitment to excellence ignites the imagination when discussing the formulation of a hypothetical MMA team to represent Poland at the Olympics. The nation has a built-in gold medal favorite in Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight titleholder Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who has pulled away from the pack at 115 pounds. Other potential contenders include surging light heavyweight prospect Tomasz Narkun, middleweight Mamed Khalidov and lightweight Marcin Held, whose affinity for leg locks makes him a threat to virtually anyone on the planet at 155 pounds. Pride Fighting Championships veteran and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Pawel Nastula will head up a coaching staff that includes Berkut Arrachion Olsztyn trainers Pawel Derlacz and Szymon Borikowski, Bastion Tychy’s Slawomir Szamota, Berserker’s Team coach Piotr Baginsky and Gracie Barra Lodz’s Marcin Rogowski.2016 Poland National MMA Team • Heavyweight: Marcin Tybura • Light Heavyweight: Tomasz Narkun • Middleweight: Mamed Khalidov • Welterweight: Borys Mankowski • Lightweight: Marcin Held • Featherweight: Artur Sowinski • Bantamweight: Damian Stasiak • Flyweight: Marcin Lasota • Women’s Bantamweight: Karolina Kowalkiewicz • Women’s Strawweight: Joanna JedrzejczykHEAVYWEIGHT: A former M-1 Global champion who has made his way to the UFC, the 6-foot-3, 249-pound Tybura casts quite a shadow. The 30-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt started his career 12-0, an eye-opening run of success that included finishes of Denis Smoldarev, Damian Grabowski, Maro Perak and Konstantin Gluhov. While losses to …

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