Fight Facts: KSW 84 ‘De Fries vs. Bajor’

UNSTOPPABLE!! #KSW84 #AndStill

The King 🇬🇧 @phildefriesmma 👑 pic.twitter.com/UaqlQst0fy

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) July 15, 2023

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: 779
TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW EVENTS: 90

KSW took to the city of Gdynia for a fight card that brought plenty to talk about and heaps of exciting action. This 10-bout showcase event plopped its heavyweight belt atop the billing, and the champion did not disappoint. KSW 84 featured another notch on the belt for the legacy of an unsung heavyweight, a consciousness-depriving guillotine and an unfortunate clashing of heads.

Good on Ya: KSW traveled to the port city of Gdynia for the first time in its 19-year existence. Over the years, the Poland-based organization has posted up in 24 different Polish cities and four others across Europe.

Bring Out the Smelling Salts: The final two bouts of KSW 84 ended courtesy of technical submissions, where the losing fighter did not tap and went to sleep instead. This event is the first in company history to feature multiple tech subs.

No-Air Fryer: In the main attraction, Philip De Fries defended his heavyweight strap by throttling Szymon Bajor. This marks the ninth straight defense for De Fries, putting further space between him and any other heavyweight champion across all major promotions.

Defendor: De Fries alone sports more defenses of his belt than all of the champs in any single KSW division in the past. While light heavyweight has technically seen nine successful defenses across their various titleholders, one came via draw to make it a retention.

Title Town, Poland: The victory was De Fries’ 10th in a championship bout, for the most in league history. He also celebrates one of the longest win streaks for any KSW fighter, behind only Mamed Khalidov’s 12-straight stretch from 2011 to 2017.

Thriving Under Pressure: Across his 10 triumphs in title fights, eight of those have come inside the distance. He now passes Tomasz Narkun for the most stoppage wins in KSW championship affairs.

An Insurmountable Record: Those eight finishes for De Fries tie him with Antoni Chmielewski for the seventh-most in league history. Khalidov’s 18 sit him atop the list.

Running Out of Clever Headings: Of his 10 KSW fights, nine for the Brit have served as a main event. This breaks a tie with Michal Materla for the third-most in the company, behind Mariusz Pudzianowski (12) and Khalidov (20).

A Favorite’s Favorite: Closing as a -525 betting favorite against Bajor, De Fries once more pulled off the win. On three separate occasions, the 37-year-old champ has clocked in as a favorite in KSW above -500. This sets him alongside Borys Mankowski, Mateusz Gamrot and Materla in the shared no. 2 spot for this category. Khalidov has come in as a favorite of that magnitude on six such occasions.

Under the Sea: In his 11th appearance under the KSW lights, Sebastian Przybysz dispatched Islam Djabrailov with a guillotine choke. All 11 of his outings have come at bantamweight, putting more distance between himself and the others for the most fights (11), wins (nine), stoppages (seven) and submissions (three).

Janky Workmanship: Over the course of three rounds, Damian Janikowski outworked Cezariusz Kesik en route to a decision win. Janikowski is just the third man to take Kesik to the scorecards.

Fist Meets Face: Around the midpoint of Round 3, Darko Stosic flattened Stefan Vojcak with punches. Win or lose, since leaving the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2020, six of his seven fights have ended via knockout.

Let’s Go, Lesko: In his last two KSW fights, Bartosz Lesko has won and lost via rear-naked choke. While he was tapped by Tom Breese in March, he returned at KSW 84 to put Nemanja Nikolic away with one. This makes him the third KSW fighter to both prevail and suffer defeat via this submission, joining Lukasz Jurkowski and Marcin Rozalski.

Herculean Effort: For the first time in his 25-fight career, Henry Fadipe picked up a win at the hands of the judges. “Herculeez” earned the split nod over Krystian Kaszubowski.

Webster’s Dictionary of Subs: With his triangle choke of Pascal Hintzen, Damian Stasiak returned to the win column and notched his third submission as a KSW fighter. With “Webster” the third man on the roster to ever perform multiple finishes via triangle, only nine combatants have landed more overall submissions on the roster.

Gimme the News: Throughout KSW history, just seven fights have been called on the advice of the doctor, not counting injuries. Gustavo Oliveira stopping Bruno Augusto dos Santos in this fashion is the first of its type in the bantamweight division.

Rams Butting Horns: Patryk Chrobak and Milosz Melchert banged their heads together in the first round to force a no contest. This is the second time has happened in the KSW cage or ring, with the first Anzor Azhiev vs. Artur Sowinski at KSW 24 in 2013.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into KSW 84, Vojcak (six fights) and Nikolic (11 fights) had never been defeated, Hintzen had never been submitted (10 fights) and Augusto dos Santos had never been knocked out (14 fights).