By The Numbers: Pawel Pawlak vs. Michal Materla

The Resurgence of Lionhart!!

KSW legend 🇵🇱 Michal Materla began his 2023 resurgence with this incredible win over old foe Kendall Grove in January.

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He now attempts to regain the KSW middleweight title this weekend! XTB #KSW89 pic.twitter.com/VRsChcnTGk

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) December 13, 2023

Pawel Pawlak now bears the bull’s eye.

“Plastinho” will defend the Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki middleweight championship for the first time when he meets former titleholder Michal Materla in the KSW 89 co-headliner on Saturday at PreZero Arena in Gliwice, Poland. Pawlak steps back into the spotlight with the wind of a seven-fight winning streak in his sails. He last appeared at KSW 83, where he struck gold at 185 pounds with a fifth-round stoppage of Tomasz Romanowski on June 3. Materla, meanwhile, enters the cage on the heels of back-to-back victories over Kendall Grove and Radoslaw Paczuski. The Berserkers Team rep held the KSW middleweight crown from May 12, 2012 to Nov. 28, 2015.

As Pawlak and Materla move ever closer to their looming showdown with one another, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

34: Years of age for Pawlak, who was born in Lodz, Poland, on Feb. 8, 1989.

11: Pawlak victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 50% of his career total (22). His list of KSW victims: Romanowski and Tom Breese. Pawlak holds three other victories by submission (14%) and eight more by decision (36%).

14: Consecutive calendar years in which Pawlak has fought at least once. In addition to his 1-0 mark in 2023, he went 2-0 in 2010, 1-0 in 2011, 2-0 in 2012, 5-0 in 2013, 0-1 in 2014, 1-1 in 2015, 0-1 in 2016, 2-0 in 2017, 1-1 in 2018, 1-0 in 2019, 2-0-1 in 2020, 2-0 in 2021 and 2-0 in 2022.

75: Rounds started by Pawlak as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 13 different occasions and carries an 8-4-1 record in those bouts.

.748: Cumulative winning percentage between the four men—Daniel Skibinski, Igor Fernandes, Leon Edwards and Peter Sobotta—who have beaten Pawlak. They boast a combined record of 78-26-1.

39: Years of age for Materla, who was born on April 10, 1984 in Szczecin, Poland.

13: Materla wins by submission, accounting for 39% of his career total (33). His methods of choice include six guillotine chokes, two kimuras, three rear-naked chokes and one armbar. Materla owns 13 other wins by knockout or technical knockout (39%) and seven more by decision (22%).

21: Seconds needed for Materla to punch out Rodney Wallace at KSW 21 on Dec. 1, 2012. More than 11 years later, it remains his fastest finish to date.

8: Countries in which Materla has plied his mixed martial arts trade. He has gone 27-7 in his native Poland, 2-0 in Germany, 1-0 in Finland, 1-0 in Ireland, 1-0 in England, 1-0 in Bulgaria, 0-1 in Brazil and 0-1 in Slovenia.

170: Combined victories between the eight men—Scott Askham (twice), Mariusz Pudzianowski, Roberto Soldic, Mamed Khalidov, Jay Silva, Antonio Mendes, Moise Rimbon and Evangelista Santos—who have defeated Materla. They sport a cumulative .663 winning percentage at 170-85-6.