Izuagbe Ugonoh (born 2 November 1986) is a Polish

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

and former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

and

kickboxer Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general ...

. He is a graduate of the

Jędrzej Śniadecki Jędrzej Śniadecki (archaic ''Andrew Sniadecki''; ; 30 November 1768 – 11 May 1838) was a Polish writer, physician, chemist, biologist and philosopher. His achievements include being the first person who linked rickets to lack of sunlight. He ...

University School of Physical Education and Sport in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

Early life

Izuagbe was born to Nigerian parents in the Polish city of

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

. He graduated from the Jędrzej Śniadecki University School of Physical Educations and Sport in

Kickboxing career

He trained kick boxing at

club ''GKSK Corpus''. Due to his similarity in appearance and fighting style he is sometimes called the ''Polish

Remy Bonjasky Remy Kenneth Bonjasky (born January 10, 1976) is a Surinamese-Dutch former kickboxer. He is a three-time K-1 World Grand Prix heavyweight champion, winning the title in 2003, 2004, and 2008. Bonjasky has been known for his flying kicks, knee att ...

''. He has also been inspired by

Gökhan Saki Gökhan Saki (born 18 October 1983Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n city of

Villach Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the po ...

, he won the Kickboxing World Championships gold medal in K-1 Rules to 91 kg, defeating Vladimir Mineev. In 2010, he became European champion in the same formula in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

. He met the local

Zamig Athakishiyev Zamig Athakishiyev is an Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Eu ...

in the final.

Professional boxing career

Early career

On 16 October 2010, he made his professional debut as a boxer in

Legionowo Legionowo is a city in Masovia ( pl, Mazowsze), east-central Poland. Location Legionowo is located to the north-east of the center of Warsaw and only to the south of Zegrze Reservoir ( or ), near the Warsaw-Gdańsk railroad and Warsaw-Suwał ...

, beating Igoris Papunia from

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

by first-round knockout. He fought his second professional fight on 20 November 2010, in a show in

Nysa Nysa may refer to: Greek Mythology * Nysa (mythology) or Nyseion, the mountainous region or mount (various traditional locations), where nymphs raised the young god Dionysus * Nysiads, nymphs of Mount Nysa who cared for and taught the infant ...

, during which he defeated Pavel Habra by technical KO in the first round. Ugonoh's first fight of 2011 was against Rad Rashid on the 2 April. Ugonoh won the bout by unanimous decision over four rounds. Ugonoh went on to gain five stoppage wins by the end of 2012. He fought once in 2013, defeating Lukasz Rusiewicz by unanimous decision in a six-round bout. In 2014, Ugonoh started training under Kevin Barry while being signed to Duco Events, and became a regular sparring partner for Joseph Parker. Ugonoh also fought once in 2014 knocking out Junior Maletino Lakopo in two rounds. Ugonoh next fought on the 5 March 2015, against Thomas Peato. Ugonoh won the bout by second-round knockout. He went on to gain wins over Julius Long and Will Quarrie before facing Ibrahim Labaran for the interim WBA Oceania and WBO Africa heavyweight titles. Ugonoh won the fight by first-round knockout. He also got a first-round knockout win against Vicente Sandez in December 2015. Ugonoh's first fight of 2016 was against Ricardo Humberto Ramirez, which he won by knockout in the fourth round. Ugonoh next fought on the 1 October, knocking out Gregory Tony in two rounds to pick up the vacant

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

Mediterranean heavyweight title. In December 2016, Ugonoh left his promoter Duco Events David Higgins after being with them for two years. Ugonoh shortly signed with Al Haymon after his departure from Duco.

Ugonoh vs. Breazeale

On the 25 February 2017, Ugonoh faced former world title challenger

Dominic Breazeale Dominic Angelo Breazeale (born August 24, 1985) is an American professional boxer. He has challenged twice for heavyweight world titles; the IBF title in 2016 and the WBC title in 2019. As an amateur he represented the United States at the 20 ...

on the under card of

Deontay Wilder Deontay Leshun Wilder (; born October 22, 1985) is an American professional boxer. He held the WBC heavyweight title from 2015 to 2020, making 10 successful defenses. By winning the title, Wilder became the first American world heavyweight ch ...

vs Gerald Washington, in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. Breazeale was ranked #11 by the WBC at heavyweight at the time. Ugonoh was ranked 7th in WBO and 9th in IBF. In a back and forth fight which saw both men hit the canvas, Breazeale came out on top after he dropped Ugonoh through the ropes in the fifth round. The fights' third round won the round of the year from

The Ring Magazine ''The Ring'' (often called ''The Ring'' magazine or ''Ring'' magazine) is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into questio ...

. This was the last fight Ugonoh fought under his trainer

Kevin Barry Kevin Gerard Barry (20 January 1902 – 1 November 1920) was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldier who was executed by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence. He was sentenced to death for his part in an attack upon a Brit ...

Career from 2018

After losing to Breazeale in 2017, Ugonoh next returned to the ring on the 25 May 2018.

Ugonoh vs. Kassi

Ugonoh faced Fred Kassi in a ten-round bout, winning the fight by stoppage after Kassi was retired on his stool at the end of the second round.

Professional boxing titles

World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...

interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

Oceania heavyweight title *

World Boxing Organization The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

Africa

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

title ** Africa

title *

International Boxing Federation The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

** Mediterranean heavyweight title

Professional boxing record

Mixed martial arts career

On July 11, 2020, news surfaced that Ugonoh transitioned from boxing to mixed martial arts and had signed a contract with

Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (English: ''Martial Arts Confrontation'') better known by its initials KSW, is widely considered to be the premiere mixed martial arts organization in Poland and one of the leading in Europe. History Martin Lewandowsk ...

. He made his mixed martial arts debut at KSW 54 on August 29, 2020. In his first fight he defeated Quentin Domingos. Ugonoh was scheduled to make his sophomore MMA appearance against the undefeated heavyweight prospect Thomas Narmo at KSW 60, but Narmo was forced off the card on March 6 with an rib injury. The undeafeated German Uğur Özkaplan served as Narmo's replacement. In turn, Özkaplan was replaced by Marek Samociuk. He lost the bout via TKO in the second round after gassing in the first round. Ugonoh rematched with Marek Samociuk at KSW 70 on May 28, 2022. He lost the bout again, losing via TKO stoppage due to ground and pound in the first round.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 1–2 , Marek Samociuk , TKO (punches) , KSW 70: Pudzianowski vs. Materla , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:38 ,

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

, Poland , , - , Loss , align=center, 1–1 , Marek Samociuk , TKO (punches) , KSW 60: De Fries vs. Narkun 2 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:27 ,

, Poland , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Quentin Domingos , TKO (leg injury) , KSW 54: Gamrot vs. Ziółkowski , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:22 ,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, Poland ,

Personal life

Ugonoh also played a wrestling cameo in the Polish movie ''Afonia and the bees'' (2009) directed by

Jan Jakub Kolski Jan Jakub Kolski (born 29 January 1956) is a Polish film director, cinematographer, and writer. Early life and career Kolski was born in Wrocław, and comes from a family closely connected to cinema. His father, Roman Kolski, and his sister, Ewa ...

. He calls himself a "black Pole" and says that he proudly represents Poland on the international arena. He often jokes that when he looks into a mirror, he "doesn't know what happened", referring to his skin color as atypical for

ethnic Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Cen ...

, a

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

ethnic group. His sister, Osuenhe "Osi" Ugonoh, works as a professional

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

, and is known for winning Poland's 4th edition of ''

Top Model ''Top Model,'' also called ''Next Top Model,'' is a fashion-themed reality television show format produced in many countries throughout the world and seen in over 120 countries producing over 200 seasons, which are referred to as "cycles". T ...

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series in 2014.

References

External links

*
Izuagbe Ugonoh
at Polish FilmWeb {{DEFAULTSORT:Ugonoh, Izu Boxers trained by Kevin Barry Polish male kickboxers Polish people of Nigerian descent 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Szczecin Polish male boxers Sportspeople from Gdańsk Polish male mixed martial artists Heavyweight boxers Nigerian male boxers Nigerian male kickboxers Nigerian male mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Mixed martial artists utilizing kickboxing