Kuba “The Accountant” Kaszuba is a professional MMA fighter and Certified Public Accountant. Originally from Olsztyn, Poland, he now lives in Jacksonville, Florida and trains at Elevate MMA. Kaszuba is now 7-0 in his pro career (12-0 overall) after securing a rear-naked choke finish in his last bout at Combat Night Pro: Tallahassee on August 20. He was gracious enough to invite us into his home for an interview leading up to the event.


GrapplerMag: You’ve always been very well-rounded. You trained multiple disciplines throughout your childhood. Was that always the plan [to pursue MMA professionally]? ‘Hey, I’m going to fight’ or was it ‘Well, I might as well fight because I know how’?


Kuba: The goal was never to be a professional, make money off of it. The goal was, just have a couple of MMA fights. For some reason my dad didn’t want me doing boxing even though I was good at boxing. 

My dad was a coach. He knows how to physically develop kids. So for my dad, the most important thing was the whole circle. Doing everything. I also played soccer. I ran track. It was about the whole circle of being an athlete. He would take me to wrestling practice, Jiu Jitsu, we did every sport and we focused on that sport. 


GM: What was it like during your first MMA class putting all of those skills you learned separately together?


Kuba: It took time. It was cool…just now I can sort of wrestle with Preston. Just now my [MMA] wrestling is starting to get pretty damn good, it’s a major part of my game. It didn’t just click, you know? Adapting your stance from boxing to being lower to defend takedowns. I was a taekwondo/kickboxing guy, so I was more straight up, bouncy on my feet. But I would say in MMA, that’s not as good, because you always get those guys that do the crazy singles or they rush you, so there’s a lot of adapting, tweaking.

You have to be asymmetrical. If there’s a symmetry of fighting, ‘He does this, so you do this,’ there’s a counter to it. So you try to uphold the biggest amount of asymmetry. You concentrate on the things you’re better at more than what he’s good at. 




GM: You mentioned before [your girlfriend] Ashley has a background in nutrition and helps you plan your meals when you’re in camp.


Kuba: That’s the one thing that Physical Education School never really taught my dad was nutrition. In Poland, we never really had junk food. Back in the day, for my parents when they wanted a snack, do you know what they would do? They would get an egg, whip it and put sugar in it. That was their snack. There were no chips. It was communist Poland, right? 1980s, ‘70s, there was no junk food. Everything was organic [laughs]. You knew the person who grew it, or you grew it yourself. It was all local. 

I guess in terms of that, my dad didn’t have any knowledge in that, because in Poland you ate what you could get and what you got was good. 


GM: Just a little less variety. 


Kuba: I’d say the Polish diet overall is a bit more fatty. I had to switch that. I had to concentrate on eating less fat, just because it’s cold and that’s our culture, I guess. You never know when the famine might come or the Russians [laughs]. 


GM: With all this food talk, how are your weight cuts normally for you?


Kuba: My weight cuts now are so easy. I’m eating more greens, more salads, the fiber is keeping me really satiated. It’s not miserable.


GM: Elevate MMA has quickly gained a reputation as the place to be for professional MMA fighters in Jacksonville. 




Kuba: When it comes to pro, you have to go to Preston’s. You can’t go anywhere else. That’s where everyone meets. That’s where the best of the best are. This is the new breed, a more modern MMA gym, concentrating only on MMA…before, I had to go to Ludus MMA, because that’s where everybody was. From there I went to Elevate. And then I started going to Gracie Barra more, probably around my junior year of college, just because there was way more one-on-one coaching. 

When Preston left Ludus, I was like, ‘OK, there’s nothing for me here, so I started going to Gracie Barra. It was different, but it was a good different. When I went to Ludus…I would just learn off Preston. But then I went to Gracie Barra, and Roberto and Korey really put their focus on me. There was way more structure [there], I’d say when I went to Gracie Barra for the two or three years I was there.

Then I moved here back to the beach with my girlfriend, so now Elevate is closer. So I go there but I still try to hit Gracie Barra twice a week, especially Sunday Funday Wrestling. That’s the most important day of the week. That’s fuckin church. You gotta go. I’m wrestling high schoolers, but the technique, the cardio, it’s beautiful. I love it. 


GM: Dominant victory in your last fight for Combat Night in Tallahassee. You have to be knocking on the UFC’s doors by now.


Kuba: I got an offer to fight in PFL as a replacement fighter, but I didn’t get picked. I could’ve fought [my last opponent] for a lot more money. He’s a tough guy, it was a tough test. These are the guys I’m going to be fighting from now on, right? I could be on TV making a lot more money. 


GM: Properly compensated. 


Kuba: I’m still fighting, because I need to fight. I need to maintain my camp, my ritual. I don’t want to get stiff, I guess. I have a job. I still train a lot. Eventually when it gets to that, I’ll quit my job, but because I feel like it. I want to see how high I can go, and if I get paid good money where I can quit my job, then I will and concentrate on fighting. I’ll fight up to 35, 36 years old. Then it’s downhill, unless you’re Glover Teixeira [laughs]. 




Tim Kline

Brandon Ibarra

Brandon attended the College of Journalism at the University of Florida. He has one stripe on his white belt.