Fight Facts: KSW 95 ‘Wiklacz vs. Przybysz 5’

Jakub Wikłacz 🇵🇱 retains his title with a spectacular guillotine choke in Round 2!

An incredible performance in an epic fight! pic.twitter.com/AIDSpaA6WF

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) June 7, 2024

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: 889
TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW EVENTS: 102

KSW continued its tour of Poland, debuting in yet another city as it made its inaugural trip to Olsztyn on June 7 and showcased two title tilts for the enthralled locals. The uneven fight card was bookended by excitement, with the middle lineup providing less-than-stellar action. KSW 95 featured the first time two fighters met four times under the company’s banner, a heavyweight in a league of his own and the speediest submission in the promotion’s welterweight division.

WE WILL MEET AGAIN, MY BROTHER: Vying for his old belt again, Sebastian Przybysz fought for the bantamweight throne against champion Jakub Wiklacz. The two have competed five times overall, including four times with KSW, setting a record with the latter.

YOU ARE FREE: By beating his rival again, Wiklacz passed Przybysz’s record for the most successful title retentions in KSW bantamweight history with three.

NOW YOU KNOW WHO YOU’RE FIGHTING: Wiklacz is now the eighth champion in organizational history to amass at retain his title three times. He is the first to do so with a draw under his belt.

PLAY YOUR TRICKS ON ME: In 2023, Przybysz put Islam Djabrailov to sleep with a guillotine choke. At KSW 95, Wiklacz slept Przybysz with the same maneuver. “Sebic” is now the first fighter in KSW ever to win and lose a fight via technical submission.

IS THERE NO ONE ELSE?: Registering his 10th consecutive title defense as the KSW’s heavyweight king, Philip De Fries outworked Augusto Sakai over five rounds to get the nod on the scorecards. No other heavyweight champ in a major promotion comes close to his streak.

I WAS BORN, AND THIS IS WHAT I AM: With 10 wins after claiming the heavyweight throne, De Fries has now amassed as many title defenses as every heavyweight champ from Pride Fighting Championships, World Extreme Cagefighting, Strikeforce, and World Series of Fighting-Professional Fighters League combined.

EVERYONE WILL REMEMBER YOUR NAME: De Fries puts further space from the pack by notching his 11th victory in a KSW title fight. His overall win streak is now one behind all-time leader Mamed Khalidov, who amassed his 12-fight fight run from 2011 to 2017.

IF I HURT YOU, IT’S NOT WHAT I WANTED: While all 11 of the Brit’s wins have come in heavyweight championship affairs, he also breaks a tie with Karol Bedorf and Mariusz Pudzianowski to become the winningest heavyweight to fight for KSW.

I THOUGHT YOU WERE A DUMB BRUTE: De Fries is the third heavyweight to make his walk to the KSW ring or cage more than 10 times. The record stands with Pudzianowski at 16, while Bedorf is at the No. 2 spot with 14.

GO HOME, PRINCE: Marcin Held earned his first win under the KSW banner by outpointing Roman Szymanski. The well-traveled Polish fighter has fought beyond the first round in every fight dating back the last five years.

I’VE FOUGHT MANY WARS IN MY TIME: Albeit in an unsuccessful outing, Szymanski competed for the 15th time as a member of the KSW roster. He joins a group consisting of 13 athletes to achieve this feat.

YOU HAVE COURAGE: Missing the welterweight limit by three pounds, Tymoteusz Lopaczyk managed to overcome Brian Hooi and win a decision. Of all the KSW fighters who missed weight and still competed, dating back to the beginning of 2023, the only one who lost was Ahmed Abdulkadirov at KSW 87.

GET UP, PRINCE OF LOMZA: After three rounds of combat, Patryk Surdyn did enough to earn the win at the hands of the judges over Shamad Erzanukaev. Since his sophomore effort in KSW in 2021, the Fight Club Lomza student has reached the third round in all his appearances.

THINGS ARE LESS SIMPLE TODAY: Michal Dreczkowski drummed out Stevan Jaric in the first round with punches and elbows to advance his young record to 5-0. The 23-year-old has only gone to the third round once as a pro thus far.

NEVER HESITATE: To kick off the event, Dawid Kuczmarski strangled Morgann Gbolou with a guillotine choke in 71 seconds. Ten others have taken place faster than his, but he set the record for the fastest in the KSW welterweight division.

DEFEND YOUR COUNTRY: Coming into his encounter with Gbolou, Kuczmarski held five wins opposite zero defeats, with all five victories via decision. He landed the first finish of his career by tapping the Frenchman.

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into KSW 95, Przybysz (16 fights) and Jaric (five fights) had never been finished, Sakai had never fought five full rounds (22 fights) and Gbolou had never been submitted (six fights).