By Dwight Wakabayashi
Mixed martial arts veteran and Ontario’s own Chris (The Polish Hammer) Horodecki will get the first shot at an MMA title on July 20, when he faces Tim Smith at Xcessive Force Fighting Championships 2 from the TEC Center in Grand Prairie, Alta.
The lightweight title fight will headline the second fight card in XFFC history with an intriguing and popular East vs. West promotional angle.
The 25-year-old Horodecki fights on Team Tompkins out of the Adrenaline Training Center in London, Ont., and is already a popular veteran of the sport with eight years and 24 professional fights under his belt.
Despite an International Fight League Grand Prix Final and competing in promotions such as TKO, WEC, Bellator and Score Fighting Series throughout his young career, Horodecki has never had a real shot at a promotional title and sees this as the biggest fight of his career.
“Yes absolutely this is the real deal. I’m prepared for everything in there,” Horodecki told sportsnet.ca in a phone interview. “I just want to be better in every area in the fight. Striking, submissions, in the clinch, on the ground, I’m looking to dominate in every position, win the fight and get that belt.”
Horodecki will always be an Adrenaline Training Center fighter, and a founding member of Team Tompkins, but he does like to spread his training around to train with the best people available. He is finishing this training camp with two weeks spent at Tristar in Montreal.
“I train mostly in London, but I like to mix it up too so I’ve been training a fair portion here,” Horodecki said. “Last fight I was here (at Tristar) for a month and this time two weeks just because of my schedule. It worked out well though I had some great training in London. I try to work at Tristar for however long I can based on my schedule.”
Horodecki stayed back in Ontario a bit longer than normal leading up to this fight to stay and corner his friend and ATC training partner Malcolm Gordon for his June 29 victory over Ahmed Akkar in Substance Cage Combat 1.0 in Toronto.
He also had many other friends and training partners involved in fights in London that he played a big part in helping. Training at ATC or Tristar, Horodecki gets the best of both worlds and will have the support of teammates Sam Stout, Mark Hominick and long-time fighter and friend Pete Brown in his corner in Alberta.
“I’ve been working really hard to get to this fight, and I’ve been waiting a long time. Not because of any injuries or anything like that, it has been because of no shows and lack of fights in the area.”
Horodecki is coming off a no contest against Brad Cardinal at Score Fighting Series 6 last October, where the fight was called due to a cut Horodecki suffered when the fighters clashed heads. Despite the time off, Horodecki dismisses any worry about cage rust.
“No, I’m prepared. I’ve done enough fights so it’s familiar territory for me.”
The title would be a nice feather in the veteran fighter’s cap, but more than anything, Horodecki just needs a win to get some momentum back in his young career. He has not had his hand raised in the cage in three fights dating back to November 2011. He gained a draw with Mike Corey in Bellator, followed by a tough loss to Mike Richman, and then the Cardinal no contest.
After two consecutive fights at featherweight, Horodecki is moving back up to 155 pounds for this title fight and is taking it fight by fight with the XFFC. Winning this fight and the title will go a long way to keeping him in the XFFC for another fight.
“We are on a fight by fight basis in the XFFC and this is their second show, but when I win this belt, I will be sure to stay and defend it.”
If Horodecki has his way the XFFC lightweight title is coming back to Ontario with The Polish Hammer.
