Fight Facts: KSW 67 ‘De Fries vs. Stosic’

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.

* * *

TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW FIGHTS: 626
TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW EVENTS: 73

KSW delivered an all-action show in Warsaw, Poland, bringing destruction and devastation all through the fight card. Whether by one-punch knockout or stealthy submission, most victors ended their respective nights early with dramatic effect. KSW 67 featured a dominant heavyweight champ unlike any we’ve ever seen, a slick armbar from a lighter fighter and the biggest recorded fine in company history.

Fans Got Their Money’s Worth: Seven of the eight matchups across KSW 67 ended inside the distance, ending the card with a stellar finish rate of 87.5%. This marked the highest stoppage rate on a card since KSW 53 in 2020.

Madness and Mayhem Throughout: The event opened with a decision, and the remaining seven bouts all concluded by stoppage. This is the longest finish streak on one fight card since KSW Elimination 1 in 2007, where the final eight fights resulted in stoppages.

Trainwreck: KSW 67 went down on fight night with four of eight bouts coming at catchweights. One additional match was scratched on weigh-in day when a fighter fell ill due to his weight cut. The four catchweights on one event is a KSW record.

Crashing Through the KSW Walls: For the sixth time in a row, Philip De Fries successfully defended his heavyweight throne, doing so by making Darko Stosic tap out to fatigue. He now holds the longest championship reign in terms of consecutive wins in KSW history, breaking a tie with two-time foe Tomasz Narkun.

The Biggest Fish in the Smallest Pond: The six straight victorious title defenses by De Fries is a record not just for all KSW division, but also a heavyweight record among every major MMA promotion. No other major organization has seen a heavyweight champ defend his strap more than four times, which happened in the reign of World Series of Fighting-Professional Fighters League champion Blagoy Ivanov from 2015 to 2018.

Lay and Pound: The finish for De Fries is his fifth since joining the roster in 2018. The champ is now one stoppage victory shy of the heavyweight record, held by a trio of names in Karol Bedorf, Marcin Rozalski and Mariusz Pudzianowski.

24 Minutes of Agony: As Stosic tapped out in Round 5, De Fries notched the latest finish in KSW history, with no past bout ending in the fifth frame. The previous latest came at KSW 42 in 2018, when Mateusz Gamrot hit a keylock on Grzegorz Szulakowski at 4:15 of the fourth round.

Can’t Put Your Extra Weight on That Leg: In the co-main event, Adrian Bartosinski snagged a kneebar on the overweight Andrzej Grzebyk. His submission is the sixth of its kind in KSW history, and the first for a bout scheduled at welterweight.

Do Not Pass Go: Coming in on short notice, Idris Amizhaev missed the predetermined 176-pound limit substantially, clocking in at 183 pounds. As a result, the promotional newcomer was fined 50% of his purse, for the greatest pre-fight penalty in organizational history.

Intellectual Igor: Igor Michaliszyn made his successful company debut by smashing Amizhaev, doing so with punches and an elbow 66 seconds into the opening round. As a pro, the Polish fighter maintains a perfectly distributed method of victory, with three wins coming due to strikes, another three via tapout and the final three by unanimous decision.

Snatching Victory: Down on the scorecards with eight seconds to go in the fight, Dawid Smielowski knocked Filip Pejic out. The win propelled “Krolik” to a perfect 9-0 as a pro, and he managed to keep his 100% finish rate intact as a result.

One Punch Kid: With one punch, Adam Soldaev separated Pascal Hintzen from his consciousness in the first round of their featherweight encounter. The 24-year-old out of WCA Fight Team saw his young career’s stoppage rate elevate to 83%, and he has won every bout since dropping his debut in 2015.

Little Guy, Big Torque: Partway through the third round, Zuriko Jojua snared Shamil Banukayev with an armbar to record the finish. The 136-pound Jojua is the lightest male fighter to land this move in KSW history, as Robert Ruchala up a division held the previous spot as the most diminutive male competitor to do so.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into KSW 67, Stosic (20 fights), Grzebyk (22 fights) and Banukayev (eight fights) had never tapped out; Hintzen had never been defeated (seven fights) and Yann Liasse had never won a match after the first round (six fights).