Damian Janikowski

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).

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.

Janikowski faced Szymon Kołecki at KSW 52 on 7 December 2019. He lost the fight via a second round knockout.