Iwo Baraniewski had multiple sparring partners to emulate Austen Lane

Iwo
Baraniewski was prepared for Austen
Lane’s towering physique. 

Baraniewski made his sophomore
UFC appearance in a light heavyweight matchup against Lane at

UFC London on Saturday. Baraniewski took less than half a
minute to drop Lane with an overhand right and followed up with
vicious ground-and-pound, forcing the referee to step in. The
undefeated Polish prospect earned a $100,000 “Performance of the
Night “bonus for his win over Lane. 

Baraniewski later revealed that he didn’t expect to make such quick
work of Lane. With Lane having a six-inch height advantage,
Baraniewski was prepared to go the distance for the first time in
his career. While Baraniewski had an easy night at the office, it
was likely due to his hard training camp. “Rudy” revealed that he
travelled to Poznan, Poland, to train with multiple fighters whose
physiques were similar to Lane’s. Baraniewski also trained with
former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan
Blachowicz and middleweight veteran Roman
Dolidze, who suffered a decision loss against Christian
Leroy Duncan at UFC London.

‘I Always Train with People Like Him’

“I thought before the fight that it’ll be a hard fight,”
Baraniewski said in his post-fight interview with the UFC. “Because
Austen has a good reach, he is 15 centimeters taller than me. So I
thought the fight would be 15 minutes… I always train with guys
like Austen. Because we have a friends club in Poznan, another city
in Poland. And in this club, we have four to five people who have
the same reach and height like Austen. So I always train with
people like him… Preparation was very hard. I trained in three
clubs, in my club, in the club in Poznan, and in a club in Warsaw I
sparred with Jan
Blachowicz, I sparred with Roman
Dolidze.” 

Baraniewski (8-0) has finished all eight of his career outings in
the first round, which includes two UFC wins. Meanwhile, Lane
(13-8) has only won one decision in the UFC while suffering five
knockout losses.