KSW heavyweight champion Phil De Fries made it nine wins in a row as he registered the sixth straight defense of his title at KSW 67 in Warsaw, Poland.
De Fries finished former UFC light heavyweight hopeful Darko Stosic in dominant fashion in the main event of the evening as he used his size and grappling advantage to bully the smaller challenger through four full rounds of action before finally forcing Stosic to tap to strikes in the fifth.
The fight continued De Fries’ incredible run of form that started back in 2017 when, as a heavyweight with a 12-6 record, he picked up wins in the Russian M-1 Global promotion, then Bellator, before signing with KSW in early 2018.
Since then, De Fries has been perfect inside the KSW cage. He captured the KSW heavyweight title on his promotional debut with a first-round TKO finish of Michal Andryszak at KSW 43, then submitted former champion Karol Bedorf via second-round Americana to fully establish his champion status.
Successful title defenses against Tomasz Narkun (twice), Luis Henrique and Michal Kita followed, leading to his bout with Stosic at KSW 67.
And the Englishman was every bit as dominant as we’ve seen in many of his past matchups as he claimed another finish to improve his record to 21-6, and a perfect 7-0 in KSW.
In the co-main event, undefeated Polish welterweight Adrian Bartosinski continued his impressive form with a kneebar submission of Andrezej Grzebyk.
Bartosinski was making his third appearance inside the KSW cage, and he showed just why he’s one of the most interesting up-and-coming stars of the promotion with the 10th finish of his career.
Bartosinski kicked off his professional career with two decision victories, but then found the power in his hands as he finished his next nine opponents, all via KO or TKO.
But at KSW 67 he showed a new dimension to his game as he locked up a kneebar on Grzebyk early in Round 2 to claim the first submission finish of his career and improve his perfect record to 12-0.
The night also saw a highlight-reel knockout from Adam Soldaev, who dropped Pascal Hintzen with a one-shot KO that was as clean as a whistle.
KSW 67: Official Results
- Phil De Fries def. Darko Stosic via TKO (submission to strikes) – Round 5, 3:40 (retains heavyweight title)
- Adrian Bartosinski def. Andrezej Grzebyk via submission (kneebar) – Round 2, 0:31
- Igor Michaliszyn def. Idris Amizhaev via TKO (punches and elbows) – Round 1, 1:06
- Dawid Smielowski def. Filip Pejic via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:52
- Adam Soldaev def. Pascal Hintzen via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 3:19
- Zuriko Jojua def. Shamil Banukayev via submission (armbar) – Round 3, 1:57
- Borys Borkowski def. Arkadiusz Kaszubaaiv TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 3:55
- Yann Liasse def. Oskar Szczepaniak via unanimous decision
