Fight Facts: KSW 55

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: 520
TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW EVENTS: 61

KSW returned with a card featuring two of the most storied competitors in company history. Both fighters—billed as Polish heroes—emerged victorious by knockout, much to the delight of the home crowd in the building. KSW 55 featured one of the fastest knockouts in company history, a continued tie for the winningest fighter in company history and an ultra-rare 115-pound tilt.

Two Men Enter, No Men Leave: Two fighters entered with perfect records ahead of KSW 55: Andreas Gustafsson (6-0) and Patryk Surdyn (5-0). Neither left with his record unscathed.

Best Guy Outside of the UFC: Mamed Khalidov won back his middleweight strap and snapped a three-fight losing streak – all catchweights against champions – by booting Scott Askham in the face shortly into the first round. With the win, Khalidov remains the winningest fighter in company history (19), tied with co-main event fighter Michal Materla.

KSW King: The finish for Khalidov was his 16th under the KSW banner, extending his lead for the most all-time.

Old Dog, Very New Tricks: The knockout for Khalidov was his sixth under the KSW lights, tying him for the third-most with Lukasz Jurkowski. They both trail Mariusz Pudzianowski (eight) and Materla (nine).

Legendary Longevity: The very first title fight in KSW history came at KSW 11 in 2009, where Khalidov won the light heavyweight strap against Daniel Acacio. Khalidov vacated that belt to pursue the middleweight crown, which he captured in 2015.

Titletown PL: Despite holding belts in two divisions over the years, Khalidov has only won four title fights. On the other hand, Khalidov has never lost a belt in the cage, relinquishing both straps to chase other fights. Former foes Tomasz Narkun and Materla both hold more championship wins than Khalidov at five each, while recent Ultimate Fighting Championship signee Mateusz Gamrot posts the most with six.

Murderous Mamed: The 40-year-old vet notched yet another stoppage with his win over Askham, and across his lengthy career, 31 of his 35 wins have come by stoppage (89 percent).

Paid by the Minute: The finish coming under a minute, Khalidov holds the KSW record for the most stoppage wins (four) in 60 seconds or less. Pudzianowski is the only other fighter with three.

Coming Up Short to Himself: Khalidov now possesses two of the five fastest knockout wins in KSW middleweight history with his 32-second drubbing of Askham. The champ previously notched a 31-second finish of Materla.

Still Not the Best Knockout That Night: Coming by way of a jumping switch kick to the head, Khalidov scored just the seventh head kick knockout in KSW history. It is the second to take place in a championship bout, with the first at heavyweight from Karol Bedorf against Michal Kita at KSW 33 in 2015.

Records Were Meant to Be Broken: For a few minutes at KSW 55, Materla held the most wins in KSW history with 19, doing so by finishing Aleksandar Ilic in Round 2. Khalidov tied him in the next bout.

Got One on You: Materla earned his 14th stoppage as a KSW fighter, and still trails former foe Khalidov – although Khalidov earned one of his aforementioned 16 finishes by dispatching Materla in 2015 with a flying knee in just over 30 seconds.

Magic Michal XXL: “Magic Michal” has now notched nine knockout victories in KSW, placing him in the top spot for the most with the promotion. His stoppage of Ilic due to strikes breaks a tie he had held with Pudzianowski.

Wild Boys Always Shine: Damian Stasiak submitted Surdyn in the second round to win his first fight with KSW. The submission was the first in th history of the KSW bantamweight division.

Is It Alex Karras in “Webster”? Landing an arm-triangle choke on Surdyn, a full 75 percent of the wins for “Webster” have come by submission. The UFC expat now sports an 83-percent finish rate.

“PM” Wins in the PM: With his second-round stoppage of Stjepan Bekavac, Przemyslaw Mysiala has still only won by decision once in his lengthy career. The finish rate of the “TUF 28” competitor is now a stellar 96 percent.

Grasping at Straws: The card opener pitting Karolina Wojcik and Sylwia Juskiewicz is just the third bout in KSW history contested at 115 pounds. While past strawweight bouts had taken place around the 117 to 120-pound range, only three ever went down in the official weight class listed in the Unified Rules. Wojcik won by decision.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into KSW 55, Askham had never been finished (23 fights), Ilic had never been knocked out (15 fights) and neither Ilic nor Ion Surdu (12 fights) had ever lost consecutive bouts.

Bah Gawd That’s Cro Cop’s Music: As he did for much of his UFC career, Stasiak walked out to “Wild Boys” by Duran Duran, a song famously known as Mirko Filipovic’s music of choice. Stasiak ended his night with a win.