The biggest fight in the history of the promotion will likely take place on December 17 at KSW 77 between Mariusz Pudzianowski and Mamed Khalidov.
Pudzianowski was one of the top strongmen before making his MMA debut in 2009 and was named the World’s Strongest Man in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2008, winning silver in 2006, and 2009.
Back in May at KSW 70 in the Polish city of Lodz, Pudzianowski (17-7) destroyed Michael Materla (31-9) in the opening round with a powerful uppercut.
The 45-year-old heavyweight then unnecessarily followed up on Materla, who was already down on the mat and unconscious for a while after the bout.
The long-time KSW heavyweight champion, British fighter Phil De Fries, who is out of opponents, called out Pudzianowski after he increased his KSW winning record to five straight with a viral knockout.
De Fries told talkSPORT that Pudzianowski is the only remaining heavyweight he has to face since he feels like he has lapped the classification.
I’ve battled and defeated every other player on the roster. It would be wonderful for my profile and it’s the fight that all the fans want because he’s the big-name opponent, he’s undefeated in five, and so on, he claimed.
The 36-year-old is aware that he and Pudzian may not be the best match, but he was willing to accept a set of hybrid regulations in order to make the fight more entertaining for both the spectators and his opponent.
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De Fries continued, “Everyone thinks I’ll teach Pudzian, and I think I will too.
If you make that fight, I’ll shake his hand and tell him there are no takedowns in this fight, I promised them [KSW]. I’ll need to be paid a little bit more, but I’m all for entertaining battles.
Pudzianowski has chosen to fight KSW great Khalidov, who has previously held the middleweight and light-heavyweight KSW belts, despite receiving a substantial title offer from De Fries.
In his heavyweight debut against Pudzianowski, the 42-year-old is attempting to rebound from a knockout loss to Roberto Soldi in the first round in December.
Prior to that, Khalidov halted a three-fight losing streak by knocking out Scott Askham in the first minute of their middleweight title rematch. Askham had previously defeated Khalidov.
