Damian Janikowski
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Damian Janikowski (born 27 June 1989) is a Polish mixed martial artist and former wrestler who won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics in the Greco-Roman 84 kg category. He is currently ranked #2 in the KSW Middleweight rankings.
Wrestling career
At the 2011 World Championships, he won the silver medal in the 84 kg men's Greco-Roman division. He beat Pedro Garcia Perez, Alan Khugaev, Eerik Aps and Nazmi Avluca before losing to Alim Selimov in the final.
At the 2012 European Championships, he beat Zhan Belenyuk, Jim Petterson and Andrea Minguzzi, before losing to Hristo Marinov.
Janikowski represented his native Poland at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London where he won the bronze medal. He beat Nazmi Avluca in the first round, Amer Hrustanović in the next and Pablo Shorey in the quarter final before losing to Karam Gaber in the semifinal. Janikowski was entered in to the repechage, where he beat Mélonin Noumonvi to win his bronze medal. He is 180 centimetres (5 ft 11 in) tall and weighs 85 kilograms (187 lb).[citation needed]
At the 2014 European Championships, he beat Javid Hamzatov before losing to Rami Hietaniemi. Because Hietaniemi reached the semifinals, Janikowski was entered into the repechage. In the repechage, he beat Ahmet Yildirim, Jim Petterson and Robert Kobliashvili, before beating Jan Fischer to win his bronze medal.
Mixed martial arts career
In 2017, Janikowski opted to try his hand at mixed martial arts and signed with the Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki organization. He made his debut at KSW 39 on 27 May 2017. He faced Julio Gallegos and won the fight via TKO due to knees and punches in the first round.[citation needed]
Janikowski faced Szymon Kołecki at KSW 52 on 7 December 2019. He lost the fight via a second round knockout.
Damian faced Andreas Gustafsson at KSW 55: Askham vs. Khalidov 2. He won the fight via split decision.
Janikowski faced Jason Radcliffe at KSW 59 on 20 March 2021. He won the bout via TKO in the second round.
Janikowski faced ex-UFC fighter Paweł Pawlak in his KSW debut on 4 September 2021 at KSW 63: Soldić vs. Kincl. He lost the bout via unanimous decision.
Janikowski faced Tomasz Jakubiec on 19 March 2022 at KSW 68: Parnasse vs. Rutkowski. He won the bout in the first round, knocking Jakubiec unconscious.
Janikowski faced Tom Breese on 10 September 2022 at KSW 74, controversially losing via guillotine choke in the second round, with the bout being stopped after the ref thought that Janikowski tapped when he said he didn't.
Janikowski faced Cezary Kęsik on 15 July 2023, at KSW 84: De Fries vs. Bajor. He won the bout via unanimous decision.
Janikowski faced Tomasz Romanowski on 16 December 2023 at KSW 89: Bartosiński vs. Parnasse, winning the bout via unanimous decision.
On 20 July 2024, in the main event of KSW 96: Pawlak vs. Janikowski 2, he had a rematch with Paweł Pawlak, with the KSW Middleweight Championship at stake. He again lost to his rival by unanimous decision on the scorecards.
Mixed martial arts record
| 19 matches | 10 wins | 9 losses |
| By knockout | 6 | 6 |
| By submission | 0 | 1 |
| By decision | 4 | 2 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 10–9 | Michał Michalski | TKO (punches) | KSW 113 | 20 December 2025 | 1 | 4:19 | Łódź, Poland | |
| Loss | 10–8 | Laïd Zerhouni | KO (punches) | KSW 106 | 10 May 2025 | 1 | 1:54 | Lyon, France | |
| Loss | 10–7 | Piotr Kuberski | TKO (punches) | KSW 100 | 16 November 2024 | 2 | 0:44 | Gliwice, Poland | Fight of the Night. |
| Loss | 10–6 | Paweł Pawlak | Decision (unanimous) | KSW 96 | 20 July 2024 | 5 | 5:00 | Łódź, Poland | For the KSW Middleweight Championship. |
| Win | 10–5 | Tomasz Romanowski | Decision (unanimous) | KSW 89 | 16 December 2023 | 3 | 5:00 | Gliwice, Poland | Fight of the Night. |
| Win | 9–5 | Cezary Kęsik | Decision (unanimous) | KSW 84 | 15 July 2023 | 3 | 5:00 | Gdynia, Poland | |
| Win | 8–5 | Mateusz Kubiszyn | Decision (unanimous) | HIGH League 5 | 10 December 2022 | 3 | 3:00 | Łódź, Poland | Catchweight (198 lb) bout. |
| Loss | 7–5 | Tom Breese | Submission (guillotine choke) | KSW 74 | 10 September 2022 | 2 | 1:53 | Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland | |
| Win | 7–4 | Tomasz Jakubiec | KO (punch) | KSW 68 | 19 March 2022 | 1 | 3:42 | Radom, Poland | Knockout of the Night. Fight of the Night. |
| Loss | 6–4 | Paweł Pawlak | Decision (unanimous) | KSW 63 | 4 September 2021 | 3 | 5:00 | Warsaw, Poland | Fight of the Night. |
| Win | 6–3 | Jason Radcliffe | TKO (punches) | KSW 59 | 20 March 2021 | 2 | 4:41 | Łódź, Poland | |
| Win | 5–3 | Andreas Berg Gustafsson | Decision (split) | KSW 55 | 10 October 2020 | 3 | 5:00 | Łódź, Poland | |
| Loss | 4–3 | Szymon Kołecki | TKO (punches) | KSW 52 | 7 December 2019 | 2 | 3:03 | Gliwice, Poland | Catchweight (202 lb) bout. |
| Win | 4–2 | Tony Giles | Submission (verbal) | KSW 50 | September 2019 | 1 | 1:24 | London, England | |
| Loss | 3–2 | Aleksandar Ilić | KO (head kick) | KSW 47 | 23 March 2019 | 3 | 0:23 | Łódź, Poland | |
| Loss | 3–1 | Michał Materla | TKO (punches) | KSW 45 | 6 October 2018 | 1 | 3:10 | London, England | KSW Middleweight Tournament Semifinal. |
| Win | 3–0 | Yannick Bahati | TKO (punches) | KSW 43 | 14 April 2018 | 1 | 0:18 | Warsaw, Poland | |
| Win | 2–0 | Antoni Chmielewski | TKO (punches) | KSW 41 | 23 December 2017 | 2 | 2:33 | Katowice, Poland | |
| Win | 1–0 | Julio Gallegos | TKO (knee and punches) | KSW 39 | 27 May 2017 | 1 | 1:26 | Warsaw, Poland | Middleweight debut; Gallegos missed weight (187.1 lb). |
See also
External links
- from Sherdog
- at the International Wrestling Database
- at Olympedia
- at Olympics.com
- at the Polski Komitet Olimpijski (in Polish) ()