After last month’s excellent outing, KSW keeps it moving forward in 2020 with another event in which they roll the dice once again.
Former middleweight champion Michał Materła (29-7) has been an OG in KSW, having some of the most thrilling bouts against some of the toughest competition thrown his way, such as Paulo Thiago, Rousimar Palhares, a resurgent Scott Askham and Tomasz Drwal. His next challenge? Facing Croatian hitman and USD Dusseldorf dynamo, current welterweight champion Roberto Soldić (17-3).
Soldić faltered in his KSW debut against then-champ and current UFC talent Dricus Du Plessis, but rebounded from that with a vengeance and has torn through the field to now move up and face a Polish hero on his home turf. With explosive athleticism and striking, great grappling defense and a still-evolving game, Soldić looks primed to possibly be a dual champion with a win here. On the other hand, there’s not much Materła hasn’t seen, and his crafty grappling, patient striking and savvy veteran status sets up traps for those not familiar with his game and leads to violent results.
The co-main is another banger, with Tomasz Narkun (17-3), one of the best European submission aces in his division capable of some sensational striking finishes. He’s up against Croatia’s Ivan Erslan (9-0), who takes a big step up in competition here.
Erslan He also knows how to capitalize when he smells blood, having a great sense for busting up opponents from inside their guard and waiting for the right moment to explode.
Justyna Haba (2-1) made her much-delayed pro debut against Shinju Nowaza-Auclair in RIZIN and put her to sleep. While she fell short against Kana Watanabe, she made short work of Klaudia Pawicka in FFF to land in KSW. Now she meets former boxer and Polish actress Karolina Owczarz (3-0) in what could be another fun-filled battle.
Owczarz won her KSW debut by submission and slapped on a lovely triangle choke in her last bout. Way more than just a boxer, her improvements in MMA have been a delight so far.
Fan-favorite Marius Žaromskis (22-9) made his return to MMA after a four-year hiatus last year, and is back to take on Andzrej Grzebyk (17-3). If you’re not hyped for this, you may just not be familiar with his body of work. Let me correct that for you. Has he still got it? Maybe, maybe not. But he’s always worth a watch and a young stallion with wild finishes and tons of power makes this even more intriguing.
Former PFL talent “Mad” Max Coga (22-6, 1 draw) reps Germany hard every time he goes out there, and it’ll be hard to have an uninspired outing with striker Daniel Torres (10-4).
Croatian-Argentinean Francisco Barro (7-1) looks to make it three straight against Mateusz Lagierski (6-0). Filip Pejić (14-4, 2 draws) brings back his brand of nuttery against Sebastian Rajewski (9-5).
As always, there’s fight trailers. The quality remains outstanding.
Materła vs Soldić:
Narkun vs Erslan:
Owzcarz vs Haba:
You can check out the weigh-ins here (sorry, no live band playing this time):
Full card is as follows:
Michał Materla (186lbs) vs. Roberto Soldić (186lbs) – Middleweight
Tomasz Narkun (205lbs) vs. Ivan Erslan (204lbs) – KSW light heavyweight title
Karolina Owczarz (126lbs) vs. Justyna Haba (124lbs) – Flyweight
Andrzej Grzebyk (171lbs) vs. Marius Žaromskis (167lbs) – Welterweight
Mateusz Legierski (161lbs) vs. Francisco Barrio (161lbs) – 161lb catchweight
Sebastian Rajewski (151lbs) vs. Filip Pejić (151lbs) – 151lb catchweight
Daniel Torres (146lbs) vs. Max Coga (145lbs) – Featherweight
Robert Ruchała (146lbs) vs. Michał Domin (146lbs) – Featherweight
KSW 56 starts this Saturday at 2:00pm EST for those of us in the U.S. and is available for streaming on FITE.tv as well as KSW’s proprietary media site.
About the author
