Fight Facts: KSW 63

WOWOWOW!! @Soldic_MMA jumps the cage and makes a beeline towards the legend & KSW middleweight champ Mamed Khalidov!!!

Are we going to see Soldic vs. Khalidov pic.twitter.com/PY9Bnhrrb7

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) September 4, 2021

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: 589
TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW EVENTS: 69

KSW trotted out a welterweight title fight for the first time in over two years and a champ who successfully defended his dusty belt. Dramatic knockouts and submissions came throughout the day in an event counterprogrammed against UFC Fight Night 191. KSW 63 featured a divisional king already looking elsewhere for other challenges, a former titleholder falling down the ladder and a bulldog choke that shocked everyone watching.

Ladies’ Night at the ATM Studio: With two women’s flyweight tilts on KSW 63, this event became the third in company history to feature multiple women’s bouts throughout the course of the night, joining KSWs 36 and 42. Both Emilia Czerwinska and Sara Luzar-Smajic got their hands raised against Weronika Eszer and Aitana Alvarez, respectively.

He Wants Mamed Khalidov: Putting Patrik Kincl away in the third round with strikes, Roberto Soldic upgraded his career knockout rate to 84% with an overall finish rate of 89%. Thirteen of the last 14 victories for “Robocop” have come by knockout.

But Khalidov Is Not a Welterweight: Soldic is now the ninth fighter in company history, and the second welterweight – the first being Borys Mankowski — to successfully defend his title twice in a row.

‘Longer’ Does Not Mean Bout Duration: Throughout a 33-fight career that began in 2010, Michal Andryszak had never before left a fight in the hands of the judges, win or lose. Darko Stosic took him to the distance, and won a decision over “Longer.”

Wikked Submission: In under two minutes, Jakub Wiklacz snared Antun Racic in a guillotine choke to record the win. “Masa” now celebrates an even 75% of his career victories by tapout.

Had to End Sometime: The first-round defeat for Racic snapped a 12-fight streak during which every one of his bouts went to the scorecards. Four of those 12 had been five-round affairs.

Killer Streak…to Watch: It had been a whopping 15 bouts since a match for “Killer” had ended in the opening frame, when he tapped Zoltan Turai with a first-round armbar in April 2014. At that time, 10 of the other 17 competitors on this event had yet to turn pro.

Roman Legionary: Tomasz Romanowski clocked Aleksandar Rakas with one punch to put an end to their match at 1:59 of the opening frame. Although Romanowski has only recorded five career knockout victories, none of them took longer than this 1:59 mark to accomplish.

Win Is in Her Name: In her professional debut, Emilia Czerwinska put Weronika Eszer away in the second stanza with ground-and-pound. Czerwinska recorded just the fourth knockout in KSW women’s divisional history, and the latest overall, with her win.

Welcome to the Bulldog Club: For the first time in KSW history, a competitor recorded a bulldog choke. Damian Piwowarczyk tapped Marcin Trzcinski with the rare maneuver to earn his fourth career win in as many bouts.

Just Bulldoggin’ It: Across all major MMA organizations, there have only been a small handful of chokes officially marked as bulldog chokes. Five came in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, while there was one in Strikeforce, one in the Professional Fighters League, one in Bellator MMA and one in One Championship.

PiWOW: In only his fourth pro bout, Piwowarczyk closed as a -750 favorite over the less experienced Trzcinski (+480). This clocks in tied as the 10th largest betting favorite in league history.

Master of His Domin(ion): Early into his career, Michal Domin opened the card with a decision win over Szymon Karolczyk. The 26-year-old had yet to go the distance before this matchup, with five past fights all ending before the final bell, win or lose.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into KSW 63, Damian Janikowski had never lost on the scorecards (nine fights), Andryszak had never fought beyond the 14-minute mark (32 fights) and Racic had never lost consecutive bouts (35 fights).