Fight Facts: KSW 74 ‘De Fries vs. Prasel’

🔟 Fight Win Streak
8⃣ Longest Active Win Streak in KSW
7⃣ Title Defenses
✅ Most Defenses in KSW History
🏆 Most Heavyweight Title Defenses ever in a major MMA Promotion

🇬🇧 @phildefriesmma 👑 #AndStill #KSW74 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/cboIi2n6CI

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) September 10, 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: 686
TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW EVENTS: 80

KSW made the most of its trip to Arena Ostrow in Ostrow Wielkopolski, Poland, on Saturday. With a heavyweight title fight and several action matchups in tow, the event promised and delivered an evening primarily consisting of finishes. Throughout the course of the night, KSW 74 concluded with an astonishing series of accolades for the main event victor while featuring a rare and elusive scarf hold armlock as well as a wild Norwegian getting his career back on track.

Bring the Fights to the People: KSW traveled to a new city for KSW 74, taking to Ostrow Wielkopolski in midwestern Poland. With a population around 72,000, this town is the smallest of any that KSW has staged a numbered event.

British Fries: Atop KSW 74, Philip De Fries defended his heavyweight strap by tapping Ricardo Prasel in the first round. De Fries has now notched seven consecutive defenses of his belt, extending his record for the most of any heavyweight champion in any major MMA organization.

Setting the Record Books in Stone: In addition to maintaining his heavyweight record, the seventh straight title defense for De Fries adds to his own record for the most in company history, regardless of weight class.

Doubling Up the Predecessors: Across De Fries tenure as a KSW heavyweight, he has already made more than twice as many successful defenses of his strap than every past champion in the division put together.

Fight Pudz: By finishing Prasel, the British champ earned his sixth stoppage since joining the roster in 2018. He is now tied with ex-champions Karol Bedorf and Marcin Rozalski for the second-most in KSW heavyweight history. They are all one shy of the leader: Mariusz Pudzianowski.

Pudzianowski Is the Final Frontier: Overall, the victory for De Fries was his eighth straight, which includes the debut that won him the belt and the seven holds on the strap. Bedorf and Pudzianowski are the only other heavyweights in company history with more wins, as they each hold 10.

Frying People: As a pro, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor De Fries has built up a finish rate of 82%. Now on a 10-fight win streak, three of his four career decision victories have come on this run.

This Was a Breese: Tom Breese debuted in the KSW ranks by hitting a guillotine choke on Damian Janikowski. The Team Renegade fighter lifted his stoppage rate to 93% with his win, with finishes in his last five triumphs.

UFC Expats Run KSW Now: Since joining KSW in 2021, Darko Stosic has achieved two knockouts in Round 2 against Michal Wlodarek and now Michal Kita. Before his KSW run, just one of his career finishes had taken place beyond the first round.

Onward to Valhalla: Getting his first win in nearly six years, Emil Meek knocked out Kacper Koziorzebski in the second round. “Valhalla” has scored 90% of his victories inside the distance, with all but one coming within two rounds.

Yelling in Pain Is Verbally Submitting: For the third time in KSW history, a competitor performed a scarf hold armlock submission. Sofiia Bagishvili forced Anita Bekus to scream out due to the maneuver in their catchweight match, after Bekus missed weight.

Call the Produce Truck: To start off the card, Borys Dzikowski punted Arkadiusz Mruk with a head kick and finished him with follow-up punches in 40 seconds. Only five knockouts have come quicker at 185 pounds under the KSW banner, with Mamed Khalidov and Michal Materla responsible for three.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into KSW 74, Prasel (16 fights), Janikowski (11 fights) and Bekus (eight fights) had never been submitted; Cezary Kesik had never been knocked out (15 fights) and Eduard Demenko had never gone the distance (six fights).