KSW End 2020 With A Bang
European MMA giant KSW ended 2020 with a huge KSW 57 event which featured no less than three title fights and a fight card that featured some of the promotion’s top stars along with a string of impressive debuts.
The UK’s Phil De Fries (19-6) defended his title for the fourth time and officially became the most dominant heavyweight champion in KSW history with his TKO win over veteran Michal Kita (20-12-1).
In the other two title bouts, Marian Ziolkowski (22-8-1) realised his dream by winning the vacant KSW lightweight title in the co-main event with an incredible dominant performance that was capped-off by a liver kick finish in the fourth round and Croatia's Antun Racic (25-8-1) made a successful first defense of his bantamweight title with a close decision win over Brazilian prospect Bruno Santos (9-2).
Elsewhere on the card, Germany's Abus Magomedov (24-4-1) and Patrik Kincl (23-9) made big statements in their respective debuts. Magomedov put the previously undefeated Cezary Kesik (12-1) to sleep with a perfect guillotine submission while Kincl KO'd Polish MMA legend Tomasz Drwal (22-6-1) in the first round.
The event itself received widespread media interest due to the variety of international stars in action on the end of year card. Nation’s like the UK, Croatia, Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany, and, of course, Poland were all represented at KSW 57.
Phil De Fries was a focal point for the likes of MMA Junkie (USA Today) and MMA Fighting (VOX) in North America due to his journey from crippling anxiety & depression to becoming the most dominant heavyweight champion in KSW history.
In the Czech Republic KSW had a two page spread in national newspaper Denik Sport covering the KSW debut of top Czech Fighter Patrik Kincl along with an exclusive interview with KSW CEO Martin Lewandowski.
The outlet also covered KSW 57 with pre & post-event coverage on their very popular website.
Croatia’s Antun Racic received a lot of media interest from his homeland as well as his adopted home of Germany.
Media outlets like 24sata, Index.hr, FightSite.hr, Net.hr, Total Croatia News, Croatia Week, Dubrovacki Vijesnik, and RTL, all provided pre & post-event coverage of Racic’s first title defense. His achievements in the sport also received plaudits from the Mayor of Dubrovnik and Racic was a special guest to his office this week.
KSW 57 also saw the debut of German duo Abus Magomedov and Christian Eckerlin. German media giant BILD covered the event online and in print (see below) while veteran European MMA outlet GNP1.de provided online updates for core German MMA fans.
Top Brazilian prospect Bruno Santos made his promotional debut at KSW 57. It was a big opportunity for the 22-year-old and Brazilian media giant Globo covered his journey on their Combate platform while MMAFighting.com had their Brazilian correspondent speak with Santos about facing Racic and possibly becoming KSW champion.
In addition to all of the above KSW 57 received widespread media coverage on global MMA websites such as Sherdog.com, CagesidePress.com, MMASucka.com, CombatPress.com, TheBodyLockMMA.com, FightbookMMA.com, MMAProspects.com, LowKickMMA.com, and more globally in addition to the mainstream coverage already in place in Poland - the home country of KSW.
(All photos copyrighted to KSW, Sebastian Rudnicki, & Michal Biel, and must not be reproduced or republished without consent.)
