KSW legend Mamed Khalidov closed out the Polish promotion’s 100th numbered event with a massive win, ending the undefeated record of the promotion’s 170-pound champ and further flexing his multi-decade longevity as a top talent for the promotion.
Khalidov scored a second-round submission win against Adrian Bartosinski on Saturday night, closing out a stacked lineup from the Arena Gliwice in Gliwice, Poland.
Khalidov got Bartosinski to the ground in the second round of the fight, seemingly dropping him with a shot. He initially used the ground position to get on the back of Bartosinski, attempting a rear naked choke. However, after slipping off the back, he had to change his gameplan.
While exiting the position Khalidov searched for an armbar, which caught Bartosinski as he looked to return to his feet. The hold didn’t take long to get fully applied to the welterweight champ, forcing a tap to end the fight.
The fight was close prior to the finish, with both talents having their brief moments of success.
44-year-old Khalidov, who appeared at KSW’s seventh-ever show in 2007 and has competed 28 times for them over two-and-a-half decades, proved why he has hung around the promotion for so long with the win.
Coming up to the middleweight class for a non-title bout, Bartosinski entered Saturday with the hype of an incredibly impressive welterweight run. He initially gained the promotion’s 170-pound title in April of last year, stopping Artur Szczepaniak in the second minute of a bout with strikes. Later in 2023, he went five dominant rounds against two-division champ Salahdine Parnasse to hand the Frenchman his second-ever loss as a pro.
Bartosinski came into this weekend following a kneebar submission win over Igor Michaliszyn in May. While he remains the promotion’s champ at 170 pounds, he can no longer call himself undefeated.
De Fries Calls For Ngannou Fight After 11th Win As Champ
KSW Heavyweight Champion Phil De Fries defended his title for an unheard-of 11th time in the co-main event of the night, making quick work of Darko Stosic.
U.K.-based heavyweight De Fries took Stosic to the mat three minutes into the fight, allowing him to begin throwing hard ground and pound shots. While Stosic worked back to his feet at one point and attempted to escape the ground position, De Fries threw him back down and kept dominating the fight with his strikes.
Shortly after getting Stosic back down to the mat, a series of ground and pound shots from De Fries caused the referee to step in and end the fight.
De Fries has consistently defended KSW’s heavyweight title since 2018 when he first gained the belt with a win over Michal Andryszak. Saturday was his second time facing Stosic, with their 2022 meeting ending in the fifth round due to stoppage.
After the fight, De Fries started to eye potential matchups outside of KSW’s roster, calling for a clash against ex-UFC talent and current PFL fighter Francis Ngannou.
“I am the #1 heavyweight champion in the world, come challenge me,” De Fries said during his post-fight interview.
Serbia’s Stosic was receiving his second shot at the champ after putting together a four-fight streak of finish wins, including a 74-second win against former PFL fighter Matheus Scheffel in February.
Clean Left Hand Extends Light Heavyweight Reign of Haratyk
Rafal Haratyk erased the lead of Marcin Wojcik with just one punch on Saturday night, putting away the challenger in the second round to defend his KSW Light Heavyweight Championship for the first time.
Wojcik was the more active fighter in the opening round of the fight, hurting Haratyk at one point with a flurry of punches and keeping the champ active with striking exchanges and takedown attempts.
But the strong start for Wojcik didn’t mean much after Haratyk floored him with a clean left cross in the second round. The hard punch allowed the champ to follow him to the ground and finish the fight with follow-up shots.
Haratyk was appearing for the first time since he won a four-man, one-night tournament to capture KSW’s vacant light heavyweight title in February. The fight this weekend was a rematch from the semi-final of that tournament earlier this year when Haratyk stopped Wojcik in the first round with strikes.
While unsuccessful in his first meeting against Haratyk, Wojcik came back this weekend after a quick submission win over Damian Piwowarczyk from September.
Ruchala Stops Formela With Ground And Pound, Maintaining Interim Status At Featherweight
Robert Ruchala held onto his status as the next man up for a featherweight title fight against Salahdine Parnasse, stopping Kacper Formela in the third round to defend his interim title for the first time.
After two-and-a-half rounds of close kickboxing, the fight found its way to the ground. Capitalizing on an off-balance Ruchala who missed on a big rolling thunder kick, Formela took the defending champ down. However, shortly after that moment, it would be Ruchala who would make the best of his time on the ground.
Ruchala battled to top control while on the ground and moved into full mount eventually. From this position he started to wail away with hard elbows and punches, forcing the referee to stop the fight.
The bout was hard to call prior to the finish. Ruchala landed the cleaner shots on the feet early, although it seemed like Formela was climbing back into the bout as the pace slowed.
A win on Saturday might position Ruchala for a rematch against main champ Salahdine Parnasse.
While Ruchala lost a fight against Parnasse last year due to fourth-round stoppage via strikes, he regained interim title status earlier this year with a 59-second win over Patryk Kaczmarczyk. With a title to his name, it seems likely that he could get a second crack at the high-profile Frenchman.
With that being said, a title unification bout wasn’t Ruchala’s main focus after the fight. The featherweight champ used his microphone time on Saturday to propose to his girlfriend, who said yes.
Formela, a former champ in notable Polish promotion FEN, was appearing in his first KSW title fight. He entered this weekend on an impressive nine-fight winning streak, including his promotional debut over Ahmed Vila earlier this year.
Quick Results:
Main Card (1:00PM EST / 7:00PM CET) (KSW PPV)
Bout 10: Mamed Khalidov def. Adrian Bartosinski via Submission, Armbar (RD 2, 2:48)
Bout 9: Phil De Fries def. Darko Stosic via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 4:11) (KSW Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 8: Rafal Haratyk def. Marcin Wojcik via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 3:22) (KSW Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 7: Arkadiusz Wrzosek def. Matheus Scheffel via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 0:25)
Bout 6: Robert Ruchala def. Kacper Formela via TKO, Strikes (RD 3, 2:44) (Interim KSW Featherweight Championship)
Bout 5: Andrzej Grzebyk def. Wiktor Zaleski via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 3:22)
Bout 4: Piotr Kuberski def. Damian Janikowski via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 0:47)
Bout 3: Igor Michaliszyn def. Madars Fleminas via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 2: Aymard Guih def. Dawid Smieloski via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 1: Nicolae Bivol def. Adam Brysz via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 0:25)
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