Phil De Fries extended his remarkable run as KSW heavyweight champion by registering his eighth straight championship defense with victory over Todd Duffee at KSW 79 in Liberec, Czech Republic.
De Fries was finished by Duffee at UFC 155 way back in 2012, but in the rematch more than a decade later, it was the Englishman who dished out the punishment to claim a first-round TKO finish.
It took De Fries just three minutes, 45 seconds of the opening round to defeat Duffee, who returned to the sport for the first time since September 2019.
It meant that De Fries extended his reign as KSW heavyweight champion, with the fight marking his eighth title defense, his ninth straight win under the KSW banner and his 11th consecutive victory overall.
The co-main event saw a popular victory for the Liberec crowd as Czech middleweight Dominik Humberger claimed a unanimous decision victory over Brazil’s Jorge Bueno.
Accompanied to the ring by Czech servicemen and women and wearing camo fight trunks, Humberger produced a strong performance to defeat Bueno with scores of 29-28 across the board.
There were TKO finishes for Polish heavyweight Michal Kita, Dutch welterweight Brian Hooi and Swedish middleweight Andreas Gustafsson, and the main card kicked off with a bang, as Ramzan Jembiev unleashed a highlight-reel knockout with a huge head-kick finish of Murilo Delfino.
The knockout came in the opening seconds of Round 2, as Jembiev moved forward and threw a left hand, followed swiftly by a right high kick, which flattened Defino for a huge knockout just 19 seconds into the round.
KSW 79: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Phil De Fries def. Todd Duffee via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:46 – for heavyweight title
- Dominik Humberger def. Jorge Bueno via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Arkadiusz Wrzosek def. Tomas Mozny via unanimous decision (29-26, 29-27, 29-27)
- Michal Kita def. Daniel Omielanczuk via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:06
- Brian Hooi def. Jivko Stoimenov via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:52
- Andreas Gustafsson def. David Hosek via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:33
- Ramzan Jembiev def. Murilo Delfino via knockout (head kick) – Round 2, 0:19
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Natalia Baczynska-Krawiec def. Petra Castkova via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
- Matyas Vislay def. Frederico Komuenha via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)