KSW in 2018 by the Numbers

Well 2018 is now behind us and what a year it was for KSW. It was our biggest year to date that saw the continued growth for KSW both domestically and internationally. We moved to five massive showcase events, up one from the traditional four events in previous years.

KSW 43, which aired on national TV in Poland, had 1.3m viewers on average and a peak viewership of 1.5m, making KSW of the most watched MMA events in the world. It was the first ever KSW card to not feature a Polish fighter in the main event as Croatia’s Roberto Soldic and South Africa’s Dricus Du Plessis thrilled KSW fans worldwide.

At KSW 45 we returned to London for the first time since 2015 and once again The SSE Arena, Wembley was almost a sellout. At this event England’s own Phil De Fries defended his heavyweight title in his home country defeating former champ Karol Bedorf and the semi finals of our middleweight tournament took place.

We also continued our partnership deals with the likes of Monster Energy, Ubisoft, Briggs & Stratton, and our global reach expanded with various new broadcast deals, including DAZN, and the continued growth of KSWTV.com, our very own global PPV platform.

Sports Temple by KSW, a sports themed bar and restaurant, opened in Warsaw, Poland and has become a huge local favourite for not only fight fans but sports fans alike.

KSW co-owners Martin Lewandowski and Maciej Kawulski were also listed at 28 on Forbes’ ’Most Powerful People in Sport in Poland’ list. This is up from 42 in 2017. Other names on the list include footballer Robert Lewandowski, NBA player Marcin Gortat, and members of Polish FA, Athletic & Olympic committees, and politicians.

Here is KSW in 2018 by the Numbers!

5 - The number of events held in 2018
2 - The number of countries visited (Poland & England)
44 - The total number of fights that took place
7 - The number of title fights
4 - Titles that changed hands (Du Plessis at WW, Soldic at WW, Gamrot at FW, De Fries at HW)
61 - The number of different fighters who stepped out into the KSW arena
14 - The number of nationalities represented by fighters
1.3m - The average number of viewers domestically for KSW 43 (1.5m peak)
15,000 - The attendance for KSW 46 at the sold out Arena Gliwice

Fight Stats

44 Fights lead to 8 subs, 19 TKO/KO’s, 16 Decisions, and 1 No-Contest.

Total fight time across all events was 6hrs 46min 30sec.

Longest event was KSW 46 at 2hrs 1min 48sec fight time - this event featured 7 decisions including the wars between Tomasz Narkun & Mamed Khalidov and Mateusz Gamrot & Kleber Koike Erbst.

Shortest event was KSW 44 at 48min 25sec fight time - this event featured 8 stoppages (5 in the first round) including Erko Jun’s incredible faceplant KO win over ’Strachu’ and Karol Bedorf’s submission win over Mariusz Pudzianowski.

49min 15sec - total cage time for Mateusz Gamrot in 2018. We saw him defend his lightweight title at KSW 42 with a masterful performance capped off with a submission in the final minute of the fight and then at KSW 46 he won the featherweight title with a dominant decision win over former champ Kleber Koike Erbst.

25min 18sec - total fight time between Tomasz Narkun & Mamed Khalidov. It was the fight that dominated KSW in 2018. At KSW 42 Narkun became the first man ever to defeat Mamed Khalidov in KSW and this lead to the rematch at KSW 46, which Narkun won. Both fights are instant classics in KSW. Watch the first fight below.

1 minute - quickest submission. Former undefeated pro boxer Karolina Owczarz registered a quick rear naked choke win over Paulina Raszewska at KSW 42 in what was also her pro MMA debut.

18 seconds - quickest KO. Olympic medalist Damian Janikowski scored a devastating KO win over Yannick Bahati at KSW 43. Wagner Prado was not too far behind Janikowski, the Brazilian KO artist needed just 41 seconds to finish late replacement Lukasz Parobiec at KSW 45 in England. See both finishes below.

2min 48sec - total cage time for Scott Askham for his two KO wins in KSW in 2018 as he defeated Michal Materla & Marcin Wojcik.

137 - the number of months between Lukasz Jurkowski & Martin Zawada’s first fight at KSW 6 in 2006 and their rematch at KSW 42 in 2018.

9 - the number of fighters who went undefeated at 2-0 in 2018. This number includes Phil De Fries capturing and defending the heavyweight title, Narkun’s back to back wins over Khalidov, Gamrot gaining ’ChampChamp’ status, Askham’s two devastating KO’s, Wagner Prado’s two impressive KO wins, and young Salahdine Parnasse remaining undefeated & working his way to title contention. Antun Racic, Erko Jun, and Krystian Kaszubowski round out this list.

3 - both Michal Materla and Roberto Soldic competed three times in 2018, both posting a record of 2-1. See Soldic’s walkoff KO win from KSW 46 below.

KSW’s first event of 2019 will be KSW 47 live from the Atlas Arena in Lodz, Poland on March 23. Five Time World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski will face Olympic Gold Medalist Powerlifter Szymon Kolecki and we will finally see the return of former champ Borys Mankowski as he will meet the top P4P fighter from South Africa Dricus Du Plessis.

KSW 47 will be live around the world on www.KSWTV.com.

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KSW in 2018 by the Numbers

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