Heavyweight Tournament Final: David Oliva vs. Konstantin Gluhov 3R unanimous decision
KSW Middleweight Title Match: Krzysztof Kulak vs. Vitor Nobrega 3R unanimous decision
-95KG Tournament Semifinals
Daniel Tabera vs. Attila Vegh R1 4:57
Jan Blachowicz vs. Wojciech Orlowski R1 1:37
Mariusz Pudzianowski vs. Yusuke Kawaguchi 2R Unanimous Decision
KSW Light Heavyweight Title Match: Mamed Khalidov vs. Ryuta Sakurai 4R Draw
KSW Lightweight Tournament Opening Round
Michal Mankiewicz vs. Paul Reed 2R
Maciej Gorski vs. Kazuki Tokudome KO R1 3:24
Danny van Bergen vs. Artur Sowinski 3R. There's nothing more exciting than a fight where whenever you think one guy is winning, the other guy makes a great move to regain the advantage & potentially finish the fight. Fast-paced contests where both fighters are always trying to win the match no matter what position they find themselves in is what got me interested in "shoot" fighting back in the day. They are all too rare these days because almost everyone plays it safe & is content to lock things down & grind it out, but van Bergen vs. Sowinski never stagnated. It was instead mostly a great attacking submission grappling exhibition with the 2nd round, in particular, being so full of scrambles & submission attempts it was reminiscent of the height of the Kiyoshi Tamura & Volk Han era of worked RINGS. I loved the win as fast as you can mentality these lightweights brought to the tournament. Neither were successful, but the pace was the same as when they are only fighting once a night. Most importantly, they were gutsy & believed in themselves, which meant they took chances because they believe in their ability to achieve the reward rather than fearing what might happen if they didn't succeed. They were willing to give up position for the opportunity to finish because they weren't worried about being on their back. The action never stagnated because their back was an offensive position, and they could also create a scramble to try to get off it. Sowinski initially seemed to be the better kickboxer despite van Bergen being a product of Mike's Gym, using his length to try to keep van Bergen off him, but not being very successful as Van Bergen would take him down sooner rather than later. In the 3rd round, when Sowinski was a little slower, van Bergen really had a big edge in the standup to the point that Sowinski was fine with diving to his back, but regardless there was as much back & forth action on the ground as on their feet. Sowinski has a really strong submission game off his back, but van Bergen is seemingly a higher level ground fighter than most of the guys Sowinski taps in camp, and especially his tough ground & pound was making it difficult for Sowinski to succeed, particularly punishing Sowinski for his space making tactics to set up the submissions attempts. The first round was mostly van Bergen beating Sowinski up for his efforts to be offensive off his back, but Sowinski created a ton of chaos in the 2nd, and there were some super exciting exchanges & finishing attempts. Sowinski couldn't quite sweep van Bergen early in the 2nd, but was able to get an armbar attempt after the scramble. Van Bergan pulled his arm free, & was finally able to get side control in the scramble. Van Bergen mounted, but Sowinski used the overhook to immediately side swept him into guard. This time it was van Bergen trying the armbar off his back, but Sowinski sat back into an ankle lock. Van Bergen pulled his leg out & regained top control with a guard pass punch. Van Bergen mounted again, this time quickly transitioning into an armbar that he momentarily had under his armpit, but Sowinski got on his knees & kept angling until he took the top. Sowinski had visions of his own ground & pound, but van Bergen scissored the arm & turned into another armbar. Sowinski did just enough in the 2nd to send it to the 3:00 overtime. Sowinski was tiring late in the 2nd, and perhaps due to that, Van Bergen blitzed him to start the 3rd with big overhand rights. Sowinski retreated to his back, and again as soon as van Bergen mounted, Sowinski was able to sweep. Van Bergen tried to go right into an armbar, but Sowinski defended. Van Bergen was able to regain the top with a 2nd armbar attempt though. Van Bergen rocked Sowinski with a big right cross lead, but Sowinski was able to land a right straight just before his legs gave out. Sowinski no longer had the energy to buck van Bergen off him, so van Bergen was able to seal the decision finishing with a series of punches from mount. Great match.
Niko Puhakka vs. Borys Mankowski R2 3:59
Przemyslaw Saleta vs. Marcin Najman R1 3:14
KSW Lightweight Tournament Semifinals
Maciej Gorski vs. Michal Mankiewicz 2R unanimous decision
Niko Puhakka vs. Danny Van Bergen 2R unanimous decision
Krzysztof Kulak vs. Daniel Dowda 3R
KSW Light Heavyweight Tournament Final: Jan Blachowicz vs. Daniel Tabera R2 4:19. Blachowicz was just too big & strong for Tabera, who gave up position way too easily. Blachowicz quickly saw he could dictate position, and just fought a patient, relaxed, grinding fight, weighing on Tabera and waiting for him to make the big mistake so he could pound him out on the mat or submit him. Tabera had a few moments early in the 2nd when he actually had top control, but the fight was 95% Blachowicz, and really little more than a sparring session for him. Average match.
Mariusz Pudzianowski vs. Eric "Butterbean" Esch R1 1:16