To say Polish powerhouse Artur Szpilka has a flair for the dramatic is quite the understatement.
While last year had plenty of options to pick from and a fairly divided staff voting for the various exciting choices, the same could not be said about 2024. Pomp and pageantry felt muted across the MMA landscape, in part due to the decline of major MMA events—a story that flew under the radar and might be cause for alarm if the trend continues next year. One of the limited standouts came at UFC 306. Esteban Ribovics’ charming selection of “Can’t Be Touched” by rap group Body Head Bangerz caught the attention of Roy Jones Jr. in the stands, where the boxer-slash-performer could not help but chime in on his own track. Also in the spirit of things was Michel Pereira at UFC 299, where his choice of “Torce o Olho” by Gusttavo Lima featuring Hugo and Guilherme also brought along a synchronized dance routine.
Another major player saw Alexander Shlemenko driven to the cage in a DeLorean while David Hasselhoff’s “True Survivor” from the masterpiece “Kung Fury” played during RCC 19. Moein Ahmadi, who enjoys a wild walkout from time to time, went to the extreme by reenacting the Trump assassination attempt—we’re not kidding—as 50 Cent’s “Many Men (Wish Death)” echoed in the arena during FCR 21. Keeping to the political theme, the second-place vote-getter drew on partisan politics, as firebrand Colby Covington steered all the way in one direction by recruiting a beloved figure who recently dipped his toe into the pol landscape: Hulk Hogan. Together, Covington and Hogan, as well as an uncharacteristically meek Chael Sonnen, strode to the cage for what was the final UFC fight of the year. Covington won over wrestling fans but ended up losing a few rounds later.
A fighter losing after a tremendous walkout is by no means a knock on it, although it does not hurt in building a narrative. Multiple past winners, including Darren Till and the aforementioned Chan Sung Jung fell, short at night’s end, but they had already won the day with their entrances. The same can be said about the winner of Sherdog’s 2024 “Entrance of the Year” award, who did not fare well once the cage door shut behind him. It did not matter, for his entrance was truly one-of-a-kind that shined a spotlight on KSW—a promotion that deserves more love than it receives.
Szpilka, hardly a household name even in his native Poland, departed the confines of the Sweet Science to dabble in MMA in 2022. Three fast finishes, the last of them over legendary bodybuilder Mariusz Pudzianowski, propelled him into a big match against a towering striker in Arkadiusz Wrzosek at KSW 94 in May. Prior to his MMA crossover, the man known as “Szpila” or “The Pin” might be most known to combat sports fans as a man who toed the line with Deontay Wilder for the WBC belt in 2016. A strapping 245 pounds and measuring at 6-foot-4, the heavy hitter was expected to throw down in the center of the cage and let the chips fall where they may. He did, and got knocked out.
The actual performance is not remotely memorable, as the co-headliner of a fairly decent show in Gdansk, Poland, and what mattered most was what came before his untimely demise. The booming tones of announcer Waldemar Kasta calling Szpilka’s name overtook the Ergo Arena, and Szpilka answered with gravitas. The lights went dark, and a video displayed several men clad in black outfits, along with a few in lab coats and masks wheeling a chamber out down the hall. Inside the chamber was Szpilka, with neon blue lights illuminating his person while the various sounds of metal clicking and steam blasts confused those in the building. The chamber slowly rose up through the floor of the arena stage as the camera focused on Szpilka’s seemingly hibernating visage, eyes closed.
As the smoke cleared, two “scientists”—actually rappers who performed the second half of his entrance—awakened the heavyweight from his slumber. The big man ripped the various tubes, tapes and wires from his torso, removed the oxygen mask he had been wearing and emerged from his cocoon, ready for battle. He began to shadowbox as he lowered down from the raised stage to the ground floor and made his way to the KSW cage. Cool as a cucumber, he marched down the aisle ready for combat, all while various chants from the audience reverberated throughout the building. A wry grin stretched across his face, as if he knew just how cool he was at that exact moment.
A personalized walkout is already something special, when a fighter is joined by the musicians who created the track he or she selected. When Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes drew Sinead O’Connor and Aaron Lewis at UFC 189, those responsible for creating their own music choices, the entrances were magnified tenfold. Szpilka, presumably with either Kacper HTA, Fonos or Gibbs alongside him, made what could have been an otherwise unremarkable walk to the cage much more interesting. The same could be said for a complicated, rehearsed march with costumes, props and other players involved. When combining the two, the result was nothing short of spectacular.
It might be for the best that Szpilka’s walkout overshadowed the fight that followed. An ill-advised Superman punch leading to his getting drummed out in under 15 seconds is hardly a defeat to hang one’s hat on, but it seemed almost forgotten mere days later. Realistically, it was a dime-a-dozen knockout, nothing worthy of “Knockout of the Year” and instead the result of poor game planning. Many fight fans, especially those UFC-centric, may not even know who he is or anything about that event in Gdansk. What they will remember is Szpilka’s unmatched choice in his walkout, which rightfully earns him Sherdog’s “Entrance of the Year” honors for 2024.