’It was a war’
Waterloo’s Pat Pytlik scores KO win to capture Unified Mixed Martial Arts belt
WATERLOO REGION — Pat Pytlik looks rough.
The Waterloo mixed martial artist has two black eyes, a broken nose, a fractured arm and foot and one of his ribs is “out.”
“They’re victory bruises,” said the 29-year-old.
But there was a smile underneath the welts as the welder returned to work in Waterloo Region Tuesday morning.
After all, Pytlik won the vacant Unified Mixed Martial Arts welterweight belt this past Friday in Enoch, Alta. “I finally did it,” said the 170-pounder. “All the years and everything I’ve worked for came to fruition.”
It wasn’t an easy path to the strap.
Pytlik went to the fifth round before knocking out Minnesota’s Vyron Phillips in the title fight at Unified 34: Supremacy.
“It was a war,” he said. “No matter what I hit him with, he just kept coming.”
That is until Pytlik delivered the decisive blow 14 seconds into the fifth round. Until that point, the card’s co-main event was fairly even.
“It was anyone’s fight,” said Pytlik, who trains at Kitchener’s TKO Fighting Arts.
“I knew it was close on the scorecard. So I bit down on my mouth guard and I went after him.”
Phillips, at six-foot-two, had a slight one-inch height advantage and used his long, lanky arms to strike from a distance.
But he closed the range on Pytlik after landing two solid jabs and a vicious upper cut to start the fifth round.
Then Pytlik pounced.
“He thought he had me hurt so he went to press and came in and I threw the bomb over the top,” he said. “I put him out cold. It was a home run.”
It was the first time Phillips (7-5-1) had been stopped by an opponent.
Pytlik improved to 7-0 and extended his impressive streak that has seen all of his victories come via knockout.
The “Fighting Pride of Kitchener” is hoping the awesome display will pique the interest of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is his desired destination.
“It’s up to them (to sign him),” he said.
“I know that I made a statement, that’s for sure.”
Pytlik plans to take a month off from fighting to recover. But on Tuesday it was back to work as usual. “That’s the life of a fighter,” he said.