Borys Mankowski Feels He ‘Woke Up’ after Mateusz Gamrot's Wins in the UFC

On Saturday, Borys Mankowski will attempt to add a second belt to his collection in the KSW 66 headliner. The former Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki 170-pound titleholder will lock horns with current lightweight kingpin Marian Ziolkowski in a much-anticipated clash. On the verge of his 32nd fight, Mankowski (22-8-1, 11-5 KSW) feels he has found new fuel for his career thanks to the example set by his training partner and friend Mateusz Gamrot, who is having a successful run in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. According to “The Tasmanian Devil,” Gamrot’s example rejuvenated his motivation to accomplish big deeds in this sport.

“When you spend a very long time in MMA or other sports, you can become tired of that,” he said. “You have to have something new that will wake you up. Because of ‘Gamer,’ because he went to the UFC and I’m with him, I woke up. I feel like I am 16 years old again because I’m with him. I’ve never loved MMA so much like now. I spent with ‘Gamer’ the whole camp, went to the UFC, and saw and touched it. It’s something that’s building me too. Since Mateusz is in the UFC and really soon will be [ranked] in the top five — and I believe it — I feel like I’ll be there too [soon]. There is no difference between him being at the top or me. It’s like the same adventure.”

Mankowski also spent a few words on the special rules boxing match between him and long-term rival Norman Parke which concluded with the Pole’s victory, shared his thoughts on the Mamed Khalidov-Roberto Soldic clash, and more.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(00:45) His holiday season
(03:50) Planning a vacation in Thailand
(05:55) Cornering Gamrot for his fight with Diego Ferreira
(10:00) The new and motivated version of Mankowski
(13:01) Facing Parke in a special-rules boxing match
(17:23) Whether there is still anyone he would like to face in KSW
(20:18) Commenting on Khalidov vs. Soldic
(22:00) His thoughts on his fight with Soldic
(24:53) His future in KSW
(25:24) Outro

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog began in 2018 and he now covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @MrTudorLeonte.