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Episode
Why did cage fighting make him the perfect warrior? Andrzej Grzebyk
~123 min
Episode Brief·YouTube

Why did cage fighting make him the perfect warrior? Andrzej Grzebyk

Cyprian Majcher
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TL;DR

The four things you'd lose by not watching

4 items

TL;DR

The four things you'd lose by not watching

4 items
1

Andrzej Grzebyk, a former pseudo-fan and hooligan, after a 3.5-month detention went from street fights to the KSW fight of the night as the #1 welterweight ranking.

2

The key to his transformation was regular work with mental coaches and unconventional practices like hugging trees, meditation, and visualization, which openly contrasts with the macho archetype in MMA.

3

He publicly accuses rival Adrian Bartosiński of doping and demands tests in KSW, citing a contract clause, even though the federation authorities are not yet introducing tests.

4

After breaking his tibia in the first round of a fight, he returned to the cage after 6 months and knocked out the same rival, and the comeback was paid for with a deep mental crisis that forced him to seek help.

Protocols

Concrete recipes — what, when, how much, and why

3 items

Regular work with a mental coach and psychologist

WhatSessions with a mental health specialist (e.g., Sławomir Morel) using unconventional techniques: holding hands on the head, hypnosis, therapeutic conversation; accompanied by writing down emotions and complete openness.
WhenDuring fight preparations and on an ongoing basis, with every problem that arises – 'we act here and now'.
DoseDepending on needs, long-term; one session is not enough, repeated working through of topics is necessary.
For whomMMA fighters and everyone struggling with pressure, traumas, or the habit of suppressing emotions.
WhyHelps work through traumas, stop lying to yourself and others, regain mental lightness and derive joy from the training process, which directly translates into sports results.
CaveatsIt is necessary to find a person 'with a calling', not just after a course; you have to trust them completely and be ready for full honesty, otherwise the process won't work.

Grzebyk for years pretended to be a tough guy, telling loved ones what they wanted to hear. The breakdown came after defeats and a broken leg. He decided to meet with Morel, who wrote to him offering help. Although initially skeptical, he felt relief after the first session. Morel uses 'Chinese methods' – works on trigger points on the head, talks, and Grzebyk often falls asleep. In parallel, he started writing down his thoughts and talking honestly with his wife. Today he says he no longer has to prove anything and approaches every preparation with joy.

Mechanism

Psychological: reduction of internal conflict, release of suppressed emotions, increased self-awareness. Physiologically, relaxation techniques lower sympathetic nervous system activity, and deep relaxation can improve recovery and sleep quality.

Personal experience

He says he leaves sessions 'light as a feather', and the ability to fall asleep with someone holding their hands on your head is proof of complete trust. He also emphasizes that now he solves problems on an ongoing basis, not putting them off for later.

I started working with psychologists, with mental coaches, really with people who also showed me and more or less told me what the five is in life.

Also said
“I am happy that I have these people around me, because I can count on them in every, in every aspect of my life since the moment I met them.”— He emphasizes the constant availability and trust in specialists.
“This is such a method that really from every session when I leave, I feel [__] you know, I'm saying how light I leave.”— Direct description of the subjective effect of the session.

Hugging trees and forest mindfulness sessions

WhatSolitary walks in the forest, hugging trees, listening to birds, and scanning the surroundings with all senses (sight, hearing, smell).
WhenIn free time, as a form of daily calming down or before important events to enter a state of focus.
DoseNot specified; Grzebyk weaves it into his daily life routine.
For whomEveryone, especially people overloaded with stress; contrary to appearances, also tough athletes.
WhyTeaches sensitivity to stimuli, calms the mind, helps build mindfulness, which translates into faster reading of situations in the cage.
CaveatsMay be perceived as eccentricity; Grzebyk says: 'people laugh at it, because they don't know many things'.

This practice is a symbol of his inner transformation. Instead of seeking adrenaline in brawls, he finds peace in nature. He describes how during a walk he can visualize angles, scan the surroundings, perceive smells and sounds. He does it regularly and treats it as mental training. He adds that once, looking at someone hugging a tree, he would have thought they were crazy; now he does it himself and feels it helps him.

Mechanism

Exposure to nature lowers cortisol, activates the parasympathetic system, and mindfulness practice increases gray matter density in areas responsible for emotion regulation and attention.

Personal experience

He himself says: 'I go and walk in the forest and look at birds and listen to their singing. Or I do visualization, of angles, I look at one point, and I scan [__] everything that is around, what is behind, what is in front, what is under me, what the smell is, what is flying. This is something beautiful.'

I fight in cages, and I hug trees.

Complete abstinence from alcohol and drugs

WhatNot drinking alcohol and not taking drugs in any quantity, even at industry parties and after parties.
WhenThroughout the entire professional sports career.
For whomYoung athletes, especially at the beginning of their path.
WhyGrzebyk believes that substances exclude reaching the sports top and are contrary to the discipline necessary to be the best.

Despite the pseudo-fan environment he moved in, he always stuck to this rule. At after parties he stood with mineral water and kept class. He believes that giving up substances was one of the foundations of his success and allowed him to save money for training and investments.

Personal experience

He says: 'I never shied away from alcohol, from drugs and from parties, not always that I was okay, I was you know, I took part in various such you know things like not looking at pseudo with fans or or even later times some after parties, but always with mineral water and always with class'.

If I drink alcohol and do drugs, I will never in my life be in the place where I want to be.

What's new

Personal practice updates, fresh positions, predictions

4 items

Departure from the macho archetype towards emotional openness and mindfulness practices

Andrzej Grzebyk from an emotion-suppressing 'tough guy' turned into a person regularly working with a psychologist and mental coach, openly talking about fear and hugging trees.

Why this matters: In the hyper-masculine world of MMA, this is a rare and brave transformation that shows an alternative path of dealing with pressure and traumas.

Background

For years Grzebyk lied to himself and loved ones that everything was 'awesome', while his head was 'broken'. Only after defeats to Bartosiński and Romanowski and after an accident and broken leg did he admit he needed help from specialists.

After the fight with Romanowski, he was close to ending his career. Instead of giving up, he started cooperation with psychologists and mental coaches, including Sławomir Morel. Morel uses unconventional techniques: holding his hands on Grzebyk's head, talking, which puts him into a state of deep relaxation, he often falls asleep. Andrzej also started keeping a journal and apologizing to loved ones for years of pretending. Over time he discovered mindfulness practices – walks in the forest, hugging trees, listening to birds. He claims he felt lighter and more authentic. Today he says: 'I am so more relaxed, smiling. I derive fun from preparations'.

Personal experience

Grzebyk describes in detail a session with Sławek: 'This is such a method that when I leave, I feel [__] light… I often fall asleep during it'. And he adds: 'I go and walk in the forest and look at birds and listen to their singing'.

I fight in cages, and I hug trees.

Also said
“I was deceiving myself that it was awesome, and it wasn't, and with many different topics I lied to loved ones too, no, my wife now and you know, people who helped me.”— Shows the scale of previous self-deception and the authenticity of the current attitude.
“I started working with psychologists, with mental coaches, really with people who showed me also and more or less told me what the five is in life.”— Highlights the concrete step that started the transformation.

Prison as a necessary reset – a controversial message for the young

Grzebyk claims that every young person should go to detention for a few days, not knowing for how long, to re-evaluate life, just as it helped him cut off from the world of pseudo-fans.

Why this matters: Open glorification of prison shock as an educational tool is a rarely seen in the media opinion of a former inmate, being simultaneously a warning and a perverse postulate.

Background

Grzebyk as a teenager was detained after a fight with the commander's son and a charge of assault with theft. He faced from 3 to 12 years in prison; ultimately after 3.5 months he got out because some charges were dropped, but the uncertainty of the sentence left a mark on him.

He described the stay in the detention center as a moment in which from a tough 'bastard' he became someone who couldn't bear the sight of his crying mother and girlfriend. Inmates urged him to 'grypsować' (prison code communication), but he refused, believing he would get out quickly. After getting out he experienced shock – he couldn't find himself in freedom. This experience to this day he considers stronger than winning belts. Hence his suggestion that a controlled 'stay of unknown length' could have a resocializing effect on young hooligans.

Personal experience

Describes the moment of release: 'When I got out, the lawyer said: you are free, you can get out of the car. And I was in shock, I didn't know what to do with myself. This feeling to this day accompanies me and no one has surpassed anything from it.'

Everyone should go in with the thought that they don't know for how long they are going. You go, you don't know for how long, you get to know the whole surroundings and you leave changed.

Also said
“How much can you look at a mother's tears, where she didn't sleep one night?”— Conveys the emotional breakthrough that made him start valuing his life.
“This was such a feeling that to this day accompanies me and no one has yet surpassed anything from it. Winning belts, various other things there, nothing has surpassed it.”— Indicates how deeply the exit to freedom after uncertainty sank into his psyche.

Return after breaking a leg in half a year as proof of mental limits

After breaking his tibia in the first round of a fight, Grzebyk returned to fighting after 6 months, rejecting opinions that after such an injury you don't come back before a year, but admits that behind the facade of strength hid a psychological trauma.

Why this matters: Tibial fracture is a serious injury that often ends careers; Grzebyk proved that a quick return is possible, and at the same time exposed the culture of hiding weakness.

Background

During a fight in KSW with Mariusz, Grzebyk broke his leg on the first kick, but fought on for 5 minutes. He lost by TKO, and the internet announced the end of his career. He however on the day of surgery started rehabilitation and after three months was already on the mat.

Twice a day he underwent rehabilitation, trained boxing standing up, and did groundwork without loading the leg. After half a year he knocked out the same rival. Despite this he admits that all the time he was lying to his surroundings, saying that everything was fine. The truth came out only after subsequent defeats, when he understood that the head had not healed. This prompted him to seek psychological help, about which he speaks directly, breaking the pattern of the 'tough warrior'.

Personal experience

He says: 'Only when I overturned with one fight just with Bartosiński and with Romanowski then I concluded that I cannot lie to everyone around me and say that it's beautiful'. This confrontation with the trauma started the mental work.

I after half a year am fighting a rematch bout with him. After half a year, where people say that after a year you don't come back, after two with such a fracture.

Also said
“Everyone says: 'What, you have no traumas. What [__] trauma? After all, the leg broke, got glued, I still have a rod in it, so what am I supposed to now?'”— Illustrates how he deceived himself, minimizing the psychological weight of the injury.
“And yet the head was broken, no?”— A short, honest admission that constitutes the core of his later transformation.

Doping accusations against Adrian Bartosiński and postulate of tests in KSW

Grzebyk publicly claims that Bartosiński uses doping, and announces striving to introduce anti-doping tests in KSW, citing the contract clause on athletes' cleanliness.

Why this matters: In Polish MMA, open discussion about doping is still rare, and statements by a top fighter with his own theory and threat of 'non-sporting consequences' heat up the atmosphere and raise questions about federation standards.

Background

The rivalry with Bartosiński started innocently, but after Grzebyk's defeat turned into a personal conflict. Grzebyk maintains that Bartosiński is a 'little liar', and suggests that visits to a certain aesthetic medicine clinic on Fabryczna Street in Warsaw were related to boosting physical form.

Grzebyk announces he will pursue the topic of tests, because KSW contracts contain a clause on the possibility of control at any moment. He says: 'I will strive for it to happen. I won't speak for the presidents here, because they have a different vision. I as a fighter have the right to a voice'. In his opinion, at least champions should be tested regularly, especially since in France such procedures already exist.

A clause in the KSW contract is that we are to be clean and at any moment they can check us. So talking that there is no doping and anti-doping tests in KSW is stupidity, stupid talk.

Also said
“Adrian goes into denial... I will strive to check it. I have some prepared those.”— Shows determination and announcement of concrete actions.
“Although let's do if not for everyone, then at least for champions, no?”— A postulate of a compromise solution for pressure on cleanliness in the federation.

Recommendations

Products, supplements, and tools mentioned in the episode

2 items

Journaling – writing down emotions and problems

Practice

Andrzej started writing down what lay on his heart to work through traumas and not keep them inside.

As part of his therapy, he started keeping notes — he described events from childhood, relationships with parents, experiences from the hooligan period and prison, as well as current conflicts. Writing helped him understand his own mechanisms and stop deceiving himself.

vs alternatives

Compared to therapeutic conversation alone, journaling gives the possibility of repeatedly returning to notes and noticing progress.

Personal experience

He says that many pages were written down, and this process was part of coming out of the mental pit.

Many, many things, many pages written down, what lies on my conscience.

Find Journaling

Meditation

Practice

Grzebyk mentions that he started meditating, which was previously alien to him, and now gives him 'mega fun' and develops the mind.

He does not give a detailed technique, but talks about it in the context of general mental development. Meditation became an element of his new lifestyle, alongside hugging trees and working with Morel.

Personal experience

He states: 'I started meditating, I almost never did yoga in my life, and it gives me mega fun and mega development for the head'.

I started meditating… it gives me mega fun and mega development for the head.

Find Meditation

Notable quotes

Lines worth pulling out — contrarian, specific, or perfectly phrased

4 items
I fight in cages, and I hug trees.
An iconic sentence conveying the paradox of a brutal athlete finding solace in delicate contact with nature – a symbol of the entire transformation.
Everyone should go in with the thought that they don't know for how long they are going. You go, you don't know for how long, you get to know the whole surroundings and you leave changed.
A controversial, authentic postulate of re-education through prison shock, spoken by someone who went through it himself.
This was such a feeling that to this day accompanies me and no one has yet surpassed anything from it. Winning belts, various other things there, nothing has surpassed it.
Places the emotional breakthrough of freedom above the greatest sports achievements.
I would be stupid to say, if I said that I have no fear, because I would have no emotions. And I have these emotions.
A sincere confession of a fight master debunking the myth of the fearless warrior – proof of emotional maturity.

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Topics covered

street-fightinghooliganismpseudokibic-subcultureprison-experiencemma-careerkswtraining-disciplineinjury-recoverymental-healththerapy-and-psychologymindfulness-in-naturedoping-in-mmarivalry-bartosinskifamily-valuesfinancial-disciplinepersonal-growthold-school-vs-modern-training
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