Adrian Bartosinski Clubs Artur Szczepaniak to Capture Welterweight Title at KSW 81

The
Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki 170-pound division has a new kingpin
in Adrian
Bartosinski.

The vacant welterweight championship was on the line in the

KSW 81 headliner, where Bartosinski (13-0, 5-0 KSW) smote
Artur
Szczepaniak (9-2, 2-1 KSW) in the opening frame. “Bartos”
studied his foe for a few seconds before landing a perfectly-timed
takedown, but Szczepaniak rose to his feet quickly and kept
grappling for a while against the fence before the pair disengaged.
Szczepaniak looked eager to catch Bartosinski, only to be met by a
hefty left hook directly on the chin. The strike was effective and
dropped Szczepaniak on the canvas instantly, in addition to making
his mouthpiece fly across the cage. Bartosinski followed up with a
Dan
Henderson-esque standing-to-ground punch before referee Lukasz
Bosacki jumped in to prevent further damage. The official time was
1:47 of Round 1. In victory, Bartosinski joins the likes of former
champs Roberto
Soldic, Dricus Du
Plessis and Borys
Mankowski as KSW welterweight titleholders.

In the co-headliner, kickboxing veterans Tomasz
Sarara and Errol
Zimmerman clashed in a heavyweight encounter. Sarara (1-2, 1-2
KSW) landed a spinning backfist out of the gate that rocked Glory
Kickboxing alum Zimmerman (1-1, 1-0 KSW), who managed to survive a
subsequent barrage of punches from his foe. The Polish fighter
looked much better than his opponent in the opening frame,
displaying effective command on the feet. In the second period,
Zimmerman felt the urge to wage war and dropped his adversary with
a heavy punching combination. In the agitated exchanges that
followed, Sarara and Zimmerman went toe-to-toe on the canvas, with
both fighters gaining a dominant position before losing it in a
scramble. Sarara captured his foe’s back and unloaded several shots
before Zimmerman escaped. Sarara almost finished “Bonecrusher” with
an arm-triangle choke, but Zimmerman resisted and bounced back on
the feet after a scramble. The end of the fight came after
Zimmerman clipped his foe with a two-piece combo before forcing the
referee to stop the action after several top-to-bottom punches.
Sarara’s subsequent claims that he was still in the fight were
futile, as the fight was officially stopped at 3:53 of Round 2.

Elsewhere, Silesian Cage Club representative Igor
Michaliszyn (10-2, 2-0 KSW) smashed Krystian
Bielski (9-5, 1-1 KSW) with elbows from the crucifix position
at welterweight; 135-pounder Werlleson
Martins Ribeiro (18-5, 2-1 KSW) annihilated Patryk
Surdyn (7-3, 2-3 KSW) with a highlight-reel knockout thanks to
a perfectly timed knee to the head while his opponent was diving
for a takedown; Adrianna
Kreft (5-0, 2-0 KSW) overcame Karolina
Owczarz (5-3, 5-3 KSW) with an arm-triangle choke submission 73
seconds out of the gate in their women’s flyweight clash;
170-pounder Marcin
Krakowiak (12-4, 4-3 KSW) outclassed Fantom MMA representative
Henry
Fadipe (13-10-1, 1-1 KSW) en route to a unanimous decision
victory (29-28, 30-27, 29-28); Strife alum Kamil
Gawryjolek (4-0, 2-0 KSW) crushed Olegs
Jemeljanovs (11-4, 0-1 KSW) with punches with 30 seconds left
in the opening stanza in their heavyweight tilt; Dana White’s
Contender Series vet Maria Silva
(9-1, 1-0 KSW) choked out Sofiia
Bagishvili (6-3, 1-1 KSW) with a rear-naked choke at 3:15 of
Round 2 in a 115-pound clash; heavyweight knockout artist Filip
Stawowy (10-3, 1-1 KSW) went out of his comfort zone to submit
Marek
Samociuk (4-4, 2-3 KSW) via rear-naked choke at 4:39 of Round
2; Josef
Stummer (3-0, 1-0 KSW) defeated karate specialist Jonatan
Kujawa (1-1, 0-1 KSW) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27,
30-27) in a featherweight clash.