POPULAR Worcester K-1 fighter ‘Iron’ Piotr Ptasinski is heading to a training camp in Poland next month in preparation for his next battle.

Trojan Free Fighters’ Ptasinski will be tackling Steve Smith in Gloucester’s Liquid Nightclub on Saturday, September 10.

Ptasinski, who hails from Zarki in southern Poland, returned to the sport after a break last year to win the vacant middleweight title at the Ultimate Impact Championships.

But Ptasinski then suffered a controversial first-round defeat at the Ultimate Gladiator kickboxing competition in Nottingham.

Now the Worcester fighter is eager to return to winning ways against Gloucester’s Smith, from Team Xtreme, in an autumn battle for an inaugural middleweight belt.

“I am always in training but my coach and I have been looking for the right fight and we’ve found it,” said Ptasinski.

“Smith is purely a K1 fighter with a record of 11 wins from 12 fights in the section and he’s very tall and a good long-range opponent.

“I am taking this fight very seriously and I am heading to an intensive 10-day training camp in Poland at the beginning of August."

He added: “I felt I was a bit unlucky in my last fight because I thought I had done enough to win. But the judges decided otherwise.

"I can’t afford to leave it to fate again.”