Fight Facts: KSW 80 ‘Eskiev vs. Ruchala’

WOW!! Victory in the final minute!! 🤯

🇵🇱 @robert_ruchala 👑 #KSW80 pic.twitter.com/AwYZ5Xp8l0

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) March 17, 2023

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: 742
TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW EVENTS: 86

KSW introduced itself to the legion of fans attending from the southwestern Polish city of Lubin – not to be confused with Lublin – for a show that demonstrated it did not need big names to deliver decent action. With its featherweight champion busy chasing titles in another division, the company decided to crown an interim beltholder to await the return of Salahdine Parnasse. KSW 80 featured the latest stoppage in organizational history, an unbeaten French fighter on a mission and more elbow finishes that you could shake a stick at.

No Job Too Small: With a total population measured at 70,016 in 2021, Lubin is officially the smallest city that the KSW has ever held an event. Its citizen count is fewer than Ostrow Wielkopolski’s roughly 72,000.

Elbownanza: Three of the 10 matches throughout the card ended at least in part due to elbow strikes. This is the most from this type of finish in any single KSW event.

Some Thought It Was a Comeback: At 4:35 of the fifth round, Robert Ruchala claimed the interim KSW featherweight throne by pounding out Lom-Ali Eskiev with punches and elbows. This stoppage clocks in as the latest in organizational history, passing Philip De Fries’ 3:44 Round 5 win over Darko Stosic last year.

Learning New Things Every Day: The 24-year-old Polish youngster improved his record to 9-0 by putting Eskiev away late in their fight. The finish marked Ruchala’s first ever due to strikes.

Official No. 1 Contender: Ruchala became the third fighter in promotional history to earn an interim title, with the aforementioned Parnasse up at lightweight as the holder of the interim 155-pound strap. Other than Parnasse in two divisions, Norman Parke achieved this feat in 2019.

In a Breese: In the co-main event, Tom Breese strangled Bartosz Lesko with a rear-naked choke in the first round. Breese advanced his overall finish rate to 94% with the win, having performed nine stoppages in Round 1 to date.

Sy-Ops: France’s Oumar Sy quickly tapped Henrique da Silva via rear-naked choke to claim his eighth victory in eight pro appearances. Sy has notched 75% of his wins by stoppage, with five coming in the opening frame.

The Polish Magomed Magomedov: Shortly after the midpoint of Round 1, Michal Michalski put Erikas Golubovskis away with elbows. Michalski becomes the second fighter in league history to perform multiple stoppages with elbow strikes, joining Brian Hooi.

Slowing Her Fights Down: After three rounds, Yasmin Guimaraes made her successful KSW debut by beating Emilia Czerwinska on the scorecards. Since starting her career with a 53-second armbar Guimaraes has gone the distance in all of her successive matches, win or lose.

Putting the Wow in Piwow: “Damsyn” Damian Piwowarczyk ended his first-ever losing streak by stopping Bartlomiej Gladkowicz with punches and elbows. His finish lifted his win rate by finish to 83%.

On Dek: A young 4-0 after tapping Patryk Chrobak, Kamil Szkaradek performed his first submission as a professional. Half of the 24-year-old prospect’s victories have come by first-round finish, with the others by decision.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into KSW 80, Eskiev had never fought beyond the third round (eight fights), Lesko had never been submitted (16 fights) and Golubovskis had never been finished (nine fights).