KSW’s official Twitter account said it all after their heavyweight champion’s latest title defense. “Can anyone stop Phil De Fries?”
The big Englishman continued his dominant reign over the KSW heavyweight division as he registered the ninth defense of his title with the 14th submission of his career.
This time around, it was Szymon Bajor who provided the challenge to De Fries’ crown. But, just as he’s done to plenty of his prior challengers, De Fries dominated his opponent on the mat as he went to the Pole’s back, locked up a rear-naked choke and put his man to sleep with three seconds left in the second round.
It meant that De Fries extended his win streak to 12 and gave KSW bosses Martin Lewandowski and Maciej Kawulski a major headache, with the Polish promotion fast running out of legitimate contenders to the Englishman’s reign.
The next challenge could potentially come in the form of Artur Szpilka, who finished Mariusz Pudzianowski at KSW Colosseum 2 in June.
Elsewhere on the card, former bantamweight champion Sebastian Przybysz continued his comeback from his title loss to Jakub Wiklacz last December by finishing Islam Djabrailov via third-round submission.
Przybysz lost the 135-pound title in the third defense of the belt as he was edged out by Wiklacz via split decision at KSW 77. But he bounced back with a third-round TKO finish of Filip Macek at KSW 82 in May.
And in Gdynia, Przybysz made it back-to-back stoppage wins with a guillotine choke getting the job done early in the final round to put him back in the bantamweight title picture once again.
Elsewhere on the main card, there was a unanimous decision victory for former Olympic medalist-turned-KSW middleweight contender Damian Janikowski, who picked up the ninth win of his pro MMA career with victory over Cezariusz Kesik, while former heavyweight title challenger Darko Stosic claimed a third-round knockout of the previously undefeated Stefan Vojcak.
The main card also saw wins for middleweight Bartosz Lesko, welterweight Henry Fadipe, and featherweight Damian Stasiak.
KSW 84: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Phil De Fries def. Szymon Bajor via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:57 – for heavyweight title
- Sebastian Przybysz def. Islam Djabrailov via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 1:21
- Damian Janikowski def. Cezariusz Kesik via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Darko Stosic def. Stefan Vojcak via knockout (punch) – Round 3, 2:34
- Bartosz Lesko def. Nemanja Nikolic via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:40
- Henry Fadipe def. Krystian Kaszubowski via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Damian Stasiak def. Pascal Hintzen via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:50
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Gustavo Oliveira def. Bruno Santos via TKO (doctor stoppage) – Round 3, 1:52
- Damian Mieczkowski def. Borys Dzikowski via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
- Patryk Chrobak vs. Milosz Melchert ruled a no contest (accidental head clash) – Round 1, 2:45