Fight Facts: KSW 57

The UK's @phildefriesmma becomes the most dominant heavyweight champion in KSW history!! #KSW57 pic.twitter.com/ejGW2Ym6s4

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) December 19, 2020

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW FIGHTS: 536
TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW EVENTS: 63

KSW ended the year in style with its 57th numbered event, a blockbuster card that put three belts on the line. Old faces and new prevailed throughout this exciting event that saw a variety of finishes. KSW 57 featured the return of one of the most dominant champs to grace its cage, the latest knockout in KSW history and an odd scorecard-based distinction for the bantamweight king.

You Get a Guillotine! You Get a Guillotine! KSW 57 is the first event in company history to ever see multiple guillotine chokes take place in the same night. Abusupiyan Magomedov and Marcin Krakowiak submitted their opponents with these maneuvers throughout the card.

Way Easier, Huh: Britain’s Philip De Fries earned just his third career knockout when he smashed Michal Kita in the second round. Two of his three knockout wins have come while with KSW, with the heavyweight vastly preferring to submit his opponents in the past.

Fries and a Coke: De Fries has now defended his heavyweight throne on four separate occasions, breaking the record for the most consecutive title defenses in KSW divisional history.

Everybody Wants You: Only one fighter in KSW history has ever notched more successful title defenses: current light heavyweight champ Tomasz Narkun with five, and De Fries sports a 2019 win over Narkun.

Wrap It Up: The stoppage at 4:01 of Round 4 for Marian Ziolkowski over Roman Szymanski is the second-latest in promotional history. Mateusz Gamrot’s keylock submission of Grzegorz Szulakowski at KSW 42 in 2018 is the only one to come later, going down at 4:15 of the fourth frame.

Make Sure Your Man Goes Down in the Fourth: The fourth-stanza finish was a knockout for Ziolkowski, clocking in as the latest knockout seen under the KSW banner.

Four for Fighting: Ziolkowski’s stoppage in the fourth round is the second in promotional history to end in Round 4. Four other fights concluded at the end of four rounds in the past, but they were scheduled as four-round bouts and each went the distance.

Body Scrambler: The knockout from Ziolkowski is the fifth in KSW history to stem from a body kick, and the first in the lightweight division.

Sowin Some, Solose Some: Artur Sowinski sustained his seventh loss as a KSW fighter by dropping a decision to Borys Mankowski, placing him in a tie with Krzysztof Kulak for the second-most defeats in organizational history. Antoni Chmielewski stands alone with eight.

Antuns of Experience: Antun Racic successfully defended the bantamweight strap for the first time when he staved off Bruno Augusto dos Santos by decision. All six of his KSW victories have come on the scorecards.

Judges Like Him: The decision win for Racic makes him one shy of the all-time KSW leaders for the most wins by judges’ verdict. Both Aslambek Saidov and Mateusz Gamrot earned seven wins from the judges in their respective KSW tenures, but neither remain on the KSW roster.

They Will Meet Again: Racic is once again the winningest bantamweight in the division’s brief history, securing his fifth triumph at 135 pounds. His win snaps a tie held with former opponent Sebastian Przybysz.

And You Call Him A Killer? Each of the last 11 bouts for “Killer” have gone the distance; win, lose or draw.

Get Out the Smelling Salts: Magomedov is the first fighter in the KSW cage to put an opponent to sleep with a submission since May 2019. Magomedov landed a guillotine choke that put Cezary Kesik out cold, much like Luis Henrique’s guillotine choke of Michal Andryszak at KSW 49.

Don’t Lose Your Head: Following Magomedov’s choke of Kesik, half of the technical submissions ever recorded under the KSW banner have come by guillotine choke.

Where’s the KO? Towards the end of the first round, Patrik Kincl put Tomasz Drwal out with a barrage of punches. Despite middleweight being one of the most populated KSW divisions, Kincl’s clean knockout is its first KO since Scott Askham leveled Michal Materla at KSW 49 in 2019 with a flying knee.

Kacper the Sleeping Ghost: Krakowiak’s submission of Kacper Koziorzebski finished the fight at 4:07 of the third round. Only four other non-title bouts in company history have taken place later, with the latest when Szymanski rendered Sebastian Romanowski unconscious with a rear-naked choke at 4:58 of Round 3 at KSW 37 in 2016.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into KSW 57, Augusto dos Santos had never competed beyond the third round (10 fights), Kesik had never been defeated (12 fights) and Koziorzebski had never been submitted (nine fights).