Current season, competition or edition: 2025 in Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki | |
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| Sport | Mixed martial artspromotion |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004; 21 years ago (2004) |
| Founder | Martin Lewandowski Maciej Kawulski |
| Owner(s) | Private |
| Country | Poland |
| Headquarters | Warsaw |
| Official website | www |
Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (English:Martial Arts Confrontation), better known by its initialsKSW, is widely considered to be the premiermixed martial arts organization inPoland[1] and one of the leading in Europe.
Martin Lewandowski had been the manager of theHotel Marriott in Warsaw when he met Maciej Kawulski in 2002. Kawulski was organizing one of the biggest sports expos in Poland at that time, and as both businessmen come from martial arts backgrounds, they quickly found a common subject. Eighteen months later the first KSW show was born.[3]
The promotion is famed for its four and eight-man tournaments, which until KSW X - Dekalog took place over the period of one night,[4] but since KSW XI they are split, with the tournament final taking place on the next event. KSW XV is the first event without a new tournament, only with extra fights and finals from previous tournaments.
Different from other bigger promotions such as theUFC, KSW adopted the strategy of having events that are less frequent but bigger, focusing on creating big shows with stacked cards and with great spectacle.[5] In 2017,KSW 39: Colosseum beat the record for the largest live attendance to a MMA event in Europe, and second-largest in history with 57,776 fans, only after thePride Shockwave in 2002 and ahead ofUFC 193.[6][7]
Several fighters who have been successful in KSW have signed on to more well known promotions such as theUFC. KSW has its own fight team, theKSW Team, which consists of some of the promotion's elite fighters, such asMamed Khalidov,Jan Błachowicz, Krzysztof Kulak, Łukasz Jurkowski or Antoni Chmielewski. KSW co-operates with many other promotions in Europe by exchanging fighters, for example WFC and The Cage. KSW runs the majority of its shows live on a variety of TV networks (Polsat Sport,Polsat Sport Extra) throughout Europe. Since KSW XI, the promotion runs its shows live on nationally available at privatefree-to-air television networkPolsat.
On November 22, 2021, KSW announced a long-term partnership with streaming platform Viaplay. Contract includes increasing number of KSW events to 12 per year and exclusive rights to Viaplay to broadcast KSW events on its platform for the Polish, Nordic, Scandinavian, Dutch and English markets.[8]
In October 2022, it was announced that as part of the extension of cooperation withXTB - one of the largest Polish fintechs offering its own investment platform, a new agreement was concluded, in which XTB will become the title sponsor of the KSW gala in 2023. The agreement is concluded for the entire year 2023 and will be valid for ten out of twelve planned galas, of which six of these events will be called XTB KSW. In other cases, XTB will be a strategic sponsor, just like in 2022 - at galas inŁódź,Toruń,Radom andWarsaw.[9]
On May 10, 2023, the KSW federation announced the introduction of the Hall of Fame, intended to recognize players every year, as well as other people who have made a unique contribution to the history of the organization.[10] The first honored player inducted into the Hall of Fame was former KSW commentator and the first KSW tournament champion, Łukasz "Juras" Jurkowski [33] . The official ceremony of Jurkowski's introduction to the Hall of Fame took place during the XTB KSW 83: Colosseum 2 gala.[11]
On February 24, 2024, a special XTB KSW Epic gala took place, focusing on organizing fights in formulas other than just MMA.[12] During the fight of the evening of this event, Mamed Chalidow and Tomasz Adamek crossed gloves in the boxing formula.[13]
The KSWring announcer is Waldemar Kasta, a former rapper born inWrocław.
The rankings for the KSW's fighters are both recorded and updated when information has been obtained from the KSW's website.[14]
| KSW MMA rankings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Heavyweight | Light heavyweight | Middleweight | Welterweight |
| C |  Phil De Fries |  Rafał Haratyk | Paweł Pawlak | Adrian Bartosiński |
| 1 |  Darko Stošić |  Ibragim Chuzhigaev | (IC) Piotr Kuberski | Andrzej Grzebyk |
| 2 |  Štefan Vojčák | Marcin Wójcik | Mamed Khalidov |  Artur Szczepaniak |
| 3 | Arkadiusz Wrzosek | Damian Piwowarczyk | Radosław Paczuski |  Muslim Tulshaev |
| 4 |  Augusto Sakai | Bartosz Leśko |   Laïd Zerhouni | Tymoteusz Łopaczyk |
| 5 | Matheus Scheffel | Sergiusz Zając | Michał Michalski | Igor Michaliszyn |
| 6 | Szymon Bajor | Maciej Różański | Damian Janikowski | Kacper Koziorzębski |
| 7 |  Michal Martinek | Bartosz Szewczyk | Tomasz Romanowski |  Madras Fleminas |
| 8 | Viktor Pešta | Rafał Kijańczuk | Michał Materla | Adam Niedźwiedź 1 |
| 9 | Ricardo Prasel | Michał Dreczkowski | Albert Odzimkowski | Krystian Kaszubowski 1 |
| 10 | Marek Samociuk | Vojtech Garba |  Andi Vrtačić | Mateusz Pawlilk |
| Rank | Lightweight | Featherweight | Bantamweight | Women's Strawweight/Flyweight |
| C | Salahdine Parnasse | Salahdine Parnasse | Sebastian Przybysz | |
| 1 |  Valeriu Mircea | Patryk Kaczmarczyk | Bruno Azevedo | |
| 2 |  Wilson Varela | Adam Soldaev 1 |  Zuriko Jojua | |
| 3 | Marcin Held | Leo Brichta 1 |  Oleksii Polischuck | |
| 4 | Marian Ziółkowski | Alioune Nahaye 1 | Islam Djabrailov | |
| 5 | Roman Szymański |  Ahmed Vila 1 | Werlleson Martins | |
| 6 | Welisson Paiva | Piotr Kacprzak 1 | Kamil Szkaradek | |
| 7 | Mateusz Makarowski | Daniel Tărchilă 3 | Patryk Surdyn | |
| 8 | Aymard Guih | Michał Domin 1 | Mariusz Joniak | |
| 9 | Kacper Formela | Łukasz Charzewski | Alfan Rocher-Labes | |
| 10 | Dawid Śmiełowski 1 | Eduard Kexel | Tobiasz Le | |
| No. | Event | Date | Venue | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 116 | XTB KSW 109: Kuberski vs. Paczuski | August 9, 2025 | ATM Studio | Warsaw, Poland |
| 115 | XTB KSW 108: Soldaev vs. Brichta | July 19, 2025 | Hala Urania | Olsztyn, Poland |
List of KSW events:
Czech Republic (total: 4)
United Kingdom (total: 3)
France (total: 3)
Ireland (total: 1)
Croatia (total: 1)
| Division | Upper weight limit | Champion | Since | Title defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavyweight | 120 kg (264.6 lb; 18.9 st) | Phil De Fries | April 14, 2018 (KSW 43) | 12 |
| Light Heavyweight | 93 kg (205.0 lb; 14.6 st) | Rafał Haratyk | February 24, 2024(KSW Epic: Khalidov vs. Adamek) | 1 |
| Middleweight | 84 kg (185.2 lb; 13.2 st) | Paweł Pawlak | June 3, 2023 (KSW 83: Colosseum 2) | 2 |
| Welterweight | 77 kg (169.8 lb; 12.1 st) | Adrian Bartosiński | April 22, 2023 (KSW 81) | 3 |
| Lightweight | 70 kg (154.3 lb; 11.0 st) | Salahdine Parnasse | June 3, 2023 (KSW 83: Colosseum 2) | 3 |
| Featherweight | 66 kg (145.5 lb; 10.4 st) | Salahdine Parnasse | December 18, 2021 (KSW 65) | 2 |
| Bantamweight | 61 kg (134.5 lb; 9.6 st) | Sebastian Przybysz | January 25, 2025 (KSW 102) | 1 |
| Division | Upper weight limit | Champion | Since | Title defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flyweight | 57 kg (125.7 lb; 9.0 st) |  Vacant | September 23, 2018 | |
| Strawweight | 52 kg (114.6 lb; 8.2 st) | Vacant | September 21, 2015 |
| No. | Name | Event | Date | Reign (total) | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karol Bedorf def.Pawel Nastula | KSW 24 Łódź, Poland | Sep 28, 2013 | 1162 days | 1. def.Rolles Gracie atKSW 28 on Oct 4, 2014 |
| 2 | Fernando Rodrigues Jr. | KSW 37 Kraków, Poland | Dec 3, 2016 | 175 days | |
| 3 | Marcin Rozalski | KSW 39 Warsaw, Poland | May 27, 2017 | 163 days | |
| Title vacated after Rozalski announced his return to kickboxing.[15] | |||||
| 4 | Phil De Fries def. Michal Andryszak | KSW 43 Wrocław, Poland | Apr 14, 2018 | 2642 days (incumbent) | 1. def. Karol Bedorf atKSW 45 on Oct 6, 2018 |
| No. | Name | Event | Date | Reign (total) | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mamed Khalidov def.Daniel Acacio | KSW 11 Warsaw, Poland | May 15, 2009 | ? days | 1. drew withRyuta Sakurai atKSW 13 on May 7, 2010 |
| Title vacated after Khalidov moved down to middleweight. | |||||
| 2 |  Rameau Thierry Sokoudjoudef.Jan Błachowicz | KSW 15 Warsaw, Poland | Mar 19, 2011 | 252 days | |
| 3 | Jan Błachowicz | KSW 17 Łódź, Poland | Nov 26, 2011 | 796 days | 1. def.Houston Alexander atKSW 20 on Sep 15, 2012 |
| Błachowicz vacated the title on January 30, 2014, after he signed withUltimate Fighting Championship.[16] | |||||
| 4 | Goran Reljić def.Attila Végh | KSW 31 Gdańsk, Poland | May 23, 2015 | 161 days | |
| 5 | Tomasz Narkun | KSW 32 London, England | Oct 31, 2015 | 2268 days | 1. def. Cassio Barbosa de Oliveira atKSW 34 on Mar 5, 2016 |
| 6 | Ibragim Chuzhigaev | KSW 66 Szczecin, Poland | Jan 15, 2022 | 689 days | 1. def. Ivan Erslan atKSW 77 on Dec 17, 2022 |
| Title was vacated on December 5, 2023, after Chuzhigaev left KSW. | |||||
| 7 | Rafał Haratyk def. Damian Piwowarczyk | KSW Epic: Khalidov vs. Adamek Gliwice, Poland | Feb 24, 2024 | 500 days (incumbent) | 1. def. Marcin Wójcik atKSW 100 on Nov 16, 2024 |
| No. | Name | Event | Date | Reign (total) | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Krzysztof Kułak def. Vitor Nobrega | KSW 13 Katowice, Poland | May 7, 2010 | ? days | |
| Title vacated after Kułak was unable to defend the title due to injury. | |||||
| 2 | Michał Materla def.Jay Silva | KSW 19 Łódź, Poland | May 12, 2012 | 1295 days | 1. def.Rodney Wallace atKSW 21 on Dec 1, 2012 |
| 3 | Mamed Khalidov | KSW 33 Kraków, Poland | Nov 28, 2015 | 975 days | 1. def. Aziz Karaoglu atKSW 35 on May 27, 2016 |
| Khalilov vacated the title after lostTomasz Narkun in a champion vs. champion superfight and instead pursue a rematch against Narkun. | |||||
| 4 | Scott Askham def.Michał Materla | KSW 49 Gdańsk, Poland | May 18, 2019 | 511 days | |
| 5 | Mamed Khalidov(2) | KSW 55 Łódź, Poland | Oct 10, 2020 | 434 days | |
| 6 | Roberto Soldić | KSW 65 Gliwice, Poland | Dec 18, 2021 | 226 days | |
| Soldić vacated the title on August 1, 2022, when he signed withONE Championship.[17] | |||||
| 7 | Paweł Pawlak def. Tomasz Romanowski | KSW 83 Warsaw, Poland | Jun 3, 2023 | 766 days (incumbent) | 1. def.Michał Materla atKSW 89 on Dec 16, 2023 |
| – | Piotr Kuberski def. Tomasz Romanowski for interim title | KSW 104 Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland | Mar 8, 2025 | 122 days (incumbent) | |
| No. | Name | Event | Date | Reign (total) | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Aslambek Saidovdef. Borys Mańkowski | KSW 21 Warsaw, Poland | Dec 1, 2012 | 532 days | 1. def.Daniel Acacio atKSW 25 on Dec 8, 2013 |
| 2 | Borys Mańkowski | KSW 27 Gdańsk, Poland | May 17, 2014 | 1316 days | 1. def.David Zawada atKSW 29 on Dec 6, 2014 |
| 3 | Roberto Soldić | KSW 41 Katowice, Poland | Dec 23, 2017 | 112 days | |
| 4 |  Dricus du Plessis | KSW 43 Wrocław, Poland | Apr 14, 2018 | 175 days | |
| 5 | Roberto Soldić(2) | KSW 45 London, England | Oct 6, 2018 | 1395 days | 1. def. Krystian Kaszubowski atKSW 49 on May 18, 2019 |
| Soldić vacated the title on August 1, 2023, when he signed withONE Championship.[17] | |||||
| 6 | Adrian Bartosiński def. Artur Szczepaniak | KSW 81 Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland | Apr 22, 2023 | 808 days (incumbent) | 1. def. Salahdine Parnasse atKSW 89 on Dec 16, 2023 |
| No. | Name | Event | Date | Reign (total) | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maciej Jewtuszko def. Artur Sowiński | KSW 21 Warsaw, Poland | Dec 1, 2012 | 812 days | |
| Jewtuszko vacated the title on February 21, 2015, when he pulled out of a title fight due to an injury and moved up to compete in the Welterweight division. | |||||
| 2 | Mateusz Gamrot def.Mansour Barnaoui | KSW 35 Gdánsk, Poland | May 27, 2016 | 1574 days | 1. def. Renato Gomes atKSW 36 on Oct 1, 2016 |
| – |  Norman Parkedef. Marcin Wrzosek for interim title | KSW 50 London, England | Sep 14, 2019 | – | |
| Originally scheduled as a title unification bout, Mateusz Gamrot defeated interim champion Norman Parke on July 11, 2020 in a non-title bout due to Parke missing weight. Interim title was vacated at this time. | |||||
| Gamrot vacated the title on September 17, 2020, when he signed with theUltimate Fighting Championship.[18] | |||||
| 3 | Marian Ziółkowski def. Roman Szymański | KSW 57 Łódź, Poland | Dec 19, 2020 | 896 days | 1. def. Maciej Kazieczko atKSW 60 on Apr 24, 2021 |
| – | Salahdine Parnasse def. Sebastian Rajewski for interim title | KSW 76 Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland | Nov 12, 2022 | – | |
| Ziółkowski vacated the title due to continue inactivity and an injury minutes before his fight against Salahdine Parnasse atKSW 83.[19] | |||||
| 4 | Salahdine Parnasse promoted to undisputed champion | — | Jun 3, 2023 | 766 days (incumbent) | 1. def. interim champion Valeriu Mircea atKSW 93 on Apr 6, 20242.def. Wilson Varela atKSW 101 on Dec 20, 2024 |
| – | Valeriu Mircea def. Leo Brichta for interim title | KSW 91 Liberec, Czech Republic | Feb 17, 2024 | – | |
| No. | Name | Event | Date | Reign (total) | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Artur Sowiński def.Kleber Koike Erbst | KSW 33 Kraków, Poland | Nov 28, 2015 | 371 days | 1. def. Fabiano Silva da Conceicao atKSW 34 on Mar 5, 2016 |
| 2 | Marcin Wrzosek | KSW 37 Kraków, Poland | Dec 3, 2016 | 175 days | |
| 3 |  Kleber Koike Erbst | KSW 39 Warsaw, Poland | May 27, 2017 | 209 days | |
| Koike was stripped of the title on December 22, 2017, after failing to make weight for his title defense against Artur Sowiński atKSW 41.[20] | |||||
| 4 | Mateusz Gamrot def.Kleber Koike Erbst | KSW 46 Gliwice, Poland | Dec 1, 2018 | 167 days | |
| – | Salahdine Parnasse def. Roman Szymanski for interim title | KSW 48 Lublin, Poland | Apr 27, 2019 | – | |
| Gamrot vacated the belt to focus on the Lightweight division. The interim champion Salahdine Parnasse became the new champion.[21] | |||||
| 5 | Salahdine Parnasse promoted to undisputed champion | — | May 17, 2019 | 624 days | 1. def. Ivan Buchinger atKSW 52 on Dec 7, 2019 |
| 6 | Daniel Torres | KSW 58 Łódź, Poland | Jan 30, 2021 | 321 days | |
| Torres was stripped of the title on December 17, 2021, after failing to make weight for his title defense against Salahdine Parnasse atKSW 65.[22] | |||||
| 7 | Salahdine Parnasse(2) def. Daniel Torres | KSW 65 Gliwice, Poland | Dec 18, 2021 | 1298 days (incumbent) | 1. def. Daniel Rutkowski atKSW 68 on Mar 19, 2022 |
| – | Robert Ruchała def. Lom-Ali Eskiev for interim title | KSW 80 Lublin, Poland | Mar 17, 2023 | – | |
| – | Robert Ruchała(2) def. Patryk Kaczmarczyk for interim title | KSW 94 Gdańsk, Poland | May 11, 2024 | – | 1. def. Kacper Formela atKSW 100 on Nov 16, 2024 |
| Ruchała vacated the interim title on June 19, 2025, when he signed with theUFC.[23] | |||||
| No. | Name | Event | Date | Reign (total) | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antun Račić def.Damian Stasiak | KSW 51 Zagreb, Croatia | Nov 9, 2019 | 497 days | 1. def. Bruno dos Santos atKSW 57 on Dec 19, 2020 |
| 2 | Sebastian Przybysz | KSW 59 Łódź, Poland | Mar 20, 2021 | 637 days | 1. def. Bruno dos Santos atKSW 64 on Oct 23, 2021 |
| 3 | Jakub Wikłacz | KSW 77 Gliwice, Poland | Dec 17, 2022 | 730 days | 1. drew with Sebastian Przybysz atKSW 86 on Sep 16, 2023 |
| Wikłacz vacated the title on December 16, 2024, when he parted ways with KSW.[24] | |||||
| 4 | Sebastian Przybysz(2) def. Bruno Azevedo | KSW 102 Radom, Poland | Jan 25, 2025 | 164 days (incumbent) | 1. def. Marcelo Morelli atKSW 107 on Jun 14, 2025 |
| No. | Name | Event | Date | Reign (total) | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ariane Lipski def.Diana Belbiţă | KSW 39 Warsaw, Poland | May 27, 2017 | 485 days | 1. def.Mariana Morais atKSW 40 on Oct 22, 2017 |
| Lipski vacated the title on September 24, 2018, when she signed with theUltimate Fighting Championship.[25] | |||||
| No. | Name | Event | Date | Reign (total) | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Marta Chojnoska | KSW 23 Gdańsk, Poland | Jun 8, 2013 | 851 days | 1. def. Jasminka Cive atKSW 27 on May 17, 2014 |
| Kowalkiewicz vacated the title on October 7, 2015, when she signed with theUltimate Fighting Championship. | |||||
Poland
Tomasz AdamekAdrian Bartosiński Karol BedorfJan BłachowiczTomasz DrwalBartosz FabińskiMateusz GamrotKrzysztof GłowackiDamian GrabowskiMarcin HeldRafal JackiewiczDamian JanikowskiMaciej Jewtuszko Lukasz JurkowskiDawid KasperskiMamed KhalidovKarolina KowalkiewiczSzymon Kołecki Borys MankowskiMichał MaterlaPaweł "Popek" MikołajuwTomasz NarkunPawel NastulaDaniel OmielańczukWojciech OrłowskiPaweł PawlakMariusz PudzianowskiMarcin RóżalskiRobert Ruchała Aslambek SaidovPrzemysław SaletaPeter SobottaDamian StasiakArtur SzpilkaJakub WikłaczArkadiusz Wrzosek
United States
Houston AlexanderJosh BarnettBrett CooperTodd DuffeeEric EschKendall GroveJason GuidaMike HayesMatt HorwichJames IrvinMatt LindlandSean McCorkleBob SappJesse TaylorRodney WallaceVirgil Zwicker Brazil
Daniel AcácioMaiquel FalcaoKalindra FariaRolles Gracie Jr.Luis HenriqueAriane LipskiMario MirandaJulio Cesar Neves Vitor NobregaRousimar PalharesWagner Prado Fernando Rodriguez JrAugusto SakaiHenrique da SilvaThiago SilvaPaulo Thiago Daniel Torres England
Scott AskhamTom BreesePhil De FriesEddie HallJohn MaguireJames McSweeneyJames ThompsonOli ThompsonJim WallheadCurt WarburtonAndre Winner Japan
Croatia
Ivan ErslanIgor PokrajacGoran ReljicRoberto Soldić Czech Republic
Leo Brichta Patrik KinclViktor PeštaSimona Soukupova France
Mansour BarnaouiFrancis Carmont Salahdine Parnasse Oumar Sy
Netherlands
Germany
Sheila Gaff Abusupiyan MagomedovDavid Zawada Slovakia
Ivan BuchingerAttila VéghŠtefan Vojčák
Australia
Lithuania
Serbia
Aleksandar IlićDarko Stošić
Sweden
Turkey
Ibragim Chuzhigaev Aziz Karaoglu Ukraine
Bohdan Gnidko Oleksii PolischuckOther
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