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Mariusz Pudzianowski has been booked to face Mamed Khalidov on December 17 at KSW 77 in arguably the biggest fight in the promotion’s history.
Prior to his MMA debut in 2009, Pudzianowski was one of the very best strongmen and was crowned the ‘World’s Strongest Man’ in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2008 while taking silver in 2006 and 2009.
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Back in May, Pudzianowski (17-7) wiped out his opponent Michael Materla (31-9) with a vicious uppercut in the first round of their main event match-up at KSW 70 in Polish city Lodz.
The 45-year-old heavyweight then landed an unnecessary follow-up shot on Materla, who was already out cold on the mat where he remained stricken for several minutes post-fight.
After stretching his KSW win streak to five in a row with a viral KO, Pudzianowski was called out by British fighter, Phil De Fries, who is the long-time KSW heavyweight champion and is running out of viable opponents.
Speaking to talkSPORT, De Fries explained he feels as if he’s lapped the division and Pudzianowski is the only heavyweight left for him to face.
“I’ve fought and beat everyone else on the roster. He’s the big-name fight, he’s on a five-fight winning streak, it would be great for my profile and it’s the fight all the fans want,” he said.
The 36-year-old believes a fight between him and ‘Pudzian’ may be a bit of a mismatch, but he was willing to agree to a set of hybrid rules to make the bout more appealing to the fans and his opponent.
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“Everyone thinks I’ll school Pudzian and I think I will too,” De Fries added.
“I told them [KSW], ‘If you make that fight, I’ll shake his hand and say there’s no takedowns in this fight.’ They’ll have to pay me a bit more but I’m all for fun fights.”
Despite getting a generous title offer from De Fries, Pudzianowski has opted to face KSW legend Khalidov, who has previously held the middleweight and light-heavyweight KSW belts.
The 42-year-old is looking to get back on track in his heavyweight debut against Pudzianowski after suffering a first-round knockout loss against Roberto Soldić in December.
Prior to that, Khalidov ended a three-fight losing steak as he avenged a defeat to Scott Askham by knocking the British fighter out with a head kick inside one minute of their middleweight title rematch.