Fight Facts: KSW 71 ‘Ziolkowski vs. Rajewski’

What a debut!!! #KSW71

🇵🇱 @szpilka_artur wins his KSW debut!!! pic.twitter.com/nzBMBKcuWC

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) June 18, 2022

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: 660
TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW EVENTS: 77

KSW kept right on humming for its sixth event in six months this year, and several memorable results came from this show. The organization introduce itself to the city of Torun in Poland for the first time with multiple noteworthy matches and one wild one under mixed rules. KSW 71 featured a decent title reign quietly gaining steam, a growingly common injury in the cage and kickboxing with little gloves for fans of all ages to enjoy.

Constant Motion: Throughout 2022, KSW has staged one event every month thus far. With two more on the books for July and August, this pace will significantly surpass the record number of fight KSW cards in a year (eight) set in 2021.

Best Champ You’ve Never Heard Of: Lightweight champ Marian Ziolkowski came back from a few rough rounds to capture a decision nod over Sebastian Rajewski. With three consecutive decisions, he is now one of six KSW champions to ever achieve this feat. He is the second lightweight to do so, with the first Mateusz Gamrot.

Stranger Than Fiction: The co-main attraction did not come as an MMA bout, although the competitors did wear MMA gloves. Marcin Rozalski took on Errol Zimmerman in a kickboxing match with three rounds lasting five minutes each. This mixed-rules bout resulted in a knockout victory for Zimmerman.

Apples to Oranges: Including this strange contest with Rozalski, “Bonecrusher” Zimmerman has notched 47 knockouts throughout his illustrious kickboxing career, with 83 wins on his ledger. The combined MMA win total of every other victor on the card coming into this event tallied only 95.

Mankhandled: Daniel Torres defeated Borys Mankowski in a hard-fought decision to put Mankowski on a losing streak. The loss was Mankowski’s seventh, tying him with three other competitors for the third-most setbacks in organizational history.

He Owns You: In their careers, ex-boxers Artur Szpilka and Serhii Radchenko have met three times across three separate sports. The two battled in the ring in 2020, on the chessboard on Friday, and in the cage on Saturday. Szpilka has won all three encounters.

Like the Old Days of the UFC: The pro MMA debut of Szpilka went his way as he forced Radchenko to surrender due to elbow strikes. A bakers’ dozen fighters over the years have tapped to strikes before, but they were all due to punches. Szpilka’s submission win by elbows is the first in KSW history.

Gotta Hand It to Him: After five frenzied minutes of action against Roman Szymanski, Valeriu Mircea called an end to his own fight between rounds due to a hand injury. The injury stoppage is just the third from a fighter’s hand or finger in KSW history.

Bad Luck Stretch: KSW 71 is the second straight event to feature a finish due to an injured fighter. At KSW 70, Jason Wilnis injured his finger, and his match against Radoslaw Paczuski was called off. No consecutive KSW cards prior to these two had ever featured injury stoppages on each.

Art Depreciation: Staging a wild comeback, Donovan Desmae submitted Artur Sowinski with a rear-naked choke after the midpoint of Round 2. In the process, Sowinski suffered his 10th loss on the KSW roster, thereby extending his own lead for the most in company history.

The Opposite of His Name: The match was Sowinski’s 22nd as a KSW fighter, and he resides with the fourth-most appearances alongside Lukasz Jurkowski. Of all KSW competitors to fight under its banner more than 10 times, Sowinski’s win percentage is the lowest at .524 when not account for a no contest.

When Jumping Guard Goes Right: Germany’s Marc Doussis snatched up a guillotine choke on Przemyslaw Dzwoniarek to elicit the tap in the second round. Across a career that has amassed eight wins since the start of 2018, all eight of those victories have come by stoppage.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into KSW 71, the organization had never staged a chess match between its fighters, Bruno Augusto dos Santos had never dropped consecutive bouts (13 fights) and Dzwoniarek had never been finished (four fights).