[6] He also won two runner-up titles in 2006 and 2009 and made 9 out of 9 appearances into the World's Strongest Man final (a feat replicated only by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson since then).

[2][7] Pudzianowski debuted in professional sports at the age of sixteen, taking part in Polish Weightlifting Championship, in the bench press event.

[7][10] In an interview, he said he wanted to stop a "local mafia boss",[7][10] and he got accused of assault and stealing his golden chain.

[2] He achieved his first major success at the international level at the 2000 World's Strongest Man contest where he finished fourth in his first WSM competition.

British strongman Laurence Shahlaei has since called this performance the most dominant victory ever seen at a World's Strongest Man event.

He initially finished third in the 2004 World's Strongest Man but was later disqualified for breaching the governing body's Strongman Health Policy.

[12] He was forced to return his prize money, stripped of the International Federation of Strength Athletes points from the event, and received a one-year ban from competition.

In so doing, he joined Jon Pall Sigmarsson and Magnus Ver Magnusson as the only men to win the competition four times.

During the 2007 competition, however, Pudzianowski said that his target was to become the only person to win the event five times, and he returned to the 2008 World's Strongest Man the following year to try to achieve his goal.

In 2009, Pudzianowski signed a contract with Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki – a Polish mixed martial arts organization – to take part in four fights.

[22] He debuted as a mixed martial arts fighter on 11 December 2009, during the KSW 12 event in Warsaw, Poland, winning against Marcin Najman.

After several hits, Najman fell to the mat and Pudzianowski started delivering punches (a tactic known as ground-and-pound).

[25] It was noted Pudzianowski had control over most of the fight, but was "neutralized" by Kawaguchi, and that, by the second round, he was looking "to be out of energy and breathing heavily".

[24] On 21 May 2010, Pudzianowski went on to participate in the Moosin: God of Martial Arts event, where he fought former two time UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia.

[27] Following his loss to Sylvia in May, Pudzianowski signed to face former heavyweight boxer and kickboxer Eric Esch, better known as 'Butterbean', at KSW 14 on 18 September.

[28] After several brief standup exchanges, Pudzianowski secured a takedown early in the fight and was then able to dominate Esch with ground and pound.

Esch, unable to get back to his feet during the attack, tapped out to the strikes, making Pudzianowski the winner by submission at 1:15 of the first round.

[30] In September 2011 Mariusz Pudzianowski started professional training in the well known MMA camp in the USA – American Top Team.

[36] Mariusz won via TKO in the first round, after dominating Piliafas on his feet, he then secured a takedown followed by posturing up and raining down some ground and pound to win at 3:48 seconds into the fight.

[37] On 8 June 2013, Pudzianowski fought Sean McCorkle at KSW 23, losing the bout in the first round by kimura submission.

[40] On 6 December 2014, Pudzianowski defeated the olympic veteran Paweł Nastula via unanimous decision on KSW 29's co-main event.

[48] However, after McSweeney was medically cleared, he eventually faced Jay Silva and won by majority decision.

[56] Pudzianowski was set to return after a fifteen month layoff [57] against the undefeated Senegalese heavyweight Serigne Ousmane at KSW 59: Fight Code on 20 March 2021.

[70] Pudzianowski faced boxer-turned-mixed martial artist Artur Szpilka at XTB KSW 83: Colosseum 2 on 3 June 2023.

Pudzianowski often appears as a guest singer in the musical group Pudzian Band, formed by his brother Krystian.

Pudzianowski is also a keen amateur rugby union player,[79][80] and plays with Blachy Pruszyński Budowlani Łódź.

[citation needed] Pudzianowski is liberal with his diet and is often seen eating chocolate, ice cream or burgers.

[81][82] On one of the World Strongman events shown on TV, and an interview for MTV, when asked about his diet he said: "I eat everything.

An hour later, I work out, then take lots of supplements: magnesium, creatine,[sic] amino acids, all that stuff, and more chocolate.