Drwal, Heath Get Second Chances
Tomasz Drwal (Pictures) and David Heath (Pictures) will fight Feb. 2 on the UFC 81
undercard at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Drwal's manager, Marcin Blicharski, confirmed the bout with Sherdog.com on Thursday.
The Polish knockout artist had his three-year, 13-fight win streak snapped in September when he suffered the first knockout defeat of his career against undefeated Brazilian ace Thiago Silva (Pictures).
Between 2005 and 2007, the 25 year old from Krakow, Poland had dominated the European scene, at one time scoring six first-round knockouts in a row. A pupil of former judo Olympic gold medalist and PRIDE veteran Pawel Nastula (Pictures), Drwal is also widely considered to be among the top three light heavyweight fighters in Europe.
Undersized Oklahoman David Heath (Pictures) showed some promise in his wins over Cory Walmsley (Pictures) and Victor Valimaki (Pictures) last year. He displayed some solid boxing and good composure in the Octagon.
Competition, however, became much harder for Heath in 2007, when he was outclassed by versatile Brazilian Lyoto Machida (Pictures) in April and then bloodied up and choked out by Renato Sobral (Pictures) in August in one of the year's most controversial bouts.
"Babalu" refused to let go of the 31 year old from Tulsa after referee Steve Mazzagatti had already signaled to stop the fight. The Brazilian faced a $25,000 fine from the Nevada State Athletic Commission and was ultimately released from his UFC contract.
Now Drwal and Heath get a chance to redeem themselves in what could be a standup war. However, with Drwal having a grappling background and now training with Nastula, he may just as well be looking to take the fight to the ground and finish Heath there.
After all, most of the pressure is on the American. There have been very few fighters invited back to the UFC after three straight defeats.
Drwal's manager, Marcin Blicharski, confirmed the bout with Sherdog.com on Thursday.
The Polish knockout artist had his three-year, 13-fight win streak snapped in September when he suffered the first knockout defeat of his career against undefeated Brazilian ace Thiago Silva (Pictures).
Between 2005 and 2007, the 25 year old from Krakow, Poland had dominated the European scene, at one time scoring six first-round knockouts in a row. A pupil of former judo Olympic gold medalist and PRIDE veteran Pawel Nastula (Pictures), Drwal is also widely considered to be among the top three light heavyweight fighters in Europe.
Undersized Oklahoman David Heath (Pictures) showed some promise in his wins over Cory Walmsley (Pictures) and Victor Valimaki (Pictures) last year. He displayed some solid boxing and good composure in the Octagon.
Competition, however, became much harder for Heath in 2007, when he was outclassed by versatile Brazilian Lyoto Machida (Pictures) in April and then bloodied up and choked out by Renato Sobral (Pictures) in August in one of the year's most controversial bouts.
"Babalu" refused to let go of the 31 year old from Tulsa after referee Steve Mazzagatti had already signaled to stop the fight. The Brazilian faced a $25,000 fine from the Nevada State Athletic Commission and was ultimately released from his UFC contract.
Now Drwal and Heath get a chance to redeem themselves in what could be a standup war. However, with Drwal having a grappling background and now training with Nastula, he may just as well be looking to take the fight to the ground and finish Heath there.
After all, most of the pressure is on the American. There have been very few fighters invited back to the UFC after three straight defeats.
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