Vitalii Yakymenko kept the KSW bantamweight title at XTB KSW 122 on Saturday 10 October, submitting Marcello Morelli with a kneebar at 1:09 of the fifth round at Hala Podpromie in Rzeszów, Poland. It was his first defence, and KSW named it Fight of the Night. In the co-main event Andrzej Grzebyk ended a three-fight losing run with a majority decision over Laïd Zerhouni, and Latvia’s Kristians Boguzs stayed unbeaten in KSW with a third-round TKO. All results are from KSW’s official results page, cross-checked with Sherdog.
Watch the replay: the free opening fights and studio show are on KSW’s YouTube channel. Outside Poland, KSW sells its events through its official streaming site, KSW TV; in Poland the event was on CANAL+.
Yakymenko vs Morelli: five rounds, then the leg
Yakymenko won the belt in February, beating Sebastian Przybysz over five rounds, and came into his first defence 11-2. Morelli, ranked third, made him work for all of it. KSW’s own account has the champion controlling round one with pressure, then Morelli taking over in the second and hurting him on the feet, while Yakymenko’s takedown attempts kept coming up short.
The middle rounds were close and mostly standing. Yakymenko finally got his wrestling going in round four and spent long stretches on top. Early in round five he trapped Morelli’s leg between his own and finished the kneebar at 1:09, which meant the judges never got a say.
“In the fifth round I submitted him, without leaving the verdict in the judges’ hands,” Yakymenko said afterwards, in quotes published by KSW (translated from Polish). “That’s exactly why I’m the king.” He’s now 12-2.
Grzebyk vs Zerhouni: the sensible win he needed
The co-main started on the scales. Zerhouni came in 1.1 kg over the 83.9 kg limit, so KSW took 40% of his purse and docked him a point at the start of round one. Grzebyk, a former welterweight title challenger, was fighting at middleweight in KSW for the first time.
He didn’t take the bait. Grzebyk kept Zerhouni at range with kicks, chopped at his lead leg and circled off the fence instead of getting dragged into a brawl, and he took it to the mat in round two. Two judges had it 29-27 and the third 28-28, a majority decision that ended a run of three straight losses. “I needed this win,” Grzebyk told KSW (translated from Polish). “I had three losses in a row that I wanted to break.”
Boguzs makes it 2-0 in KSW
Latvia’s Kristians Boguzs, described in KSW’s results as representing England, stopped Kacper Cholewa at 1:36 of round three. Cholewa was making his KSW debut and proved very hard to put away. Boguzs dropped him with knees in the clinch in round one and spent most of the fight beating him up against the fence and on the mat until the referee stepped in. It’s his second KSW win after a rear-naked choke of Kacper Fornalski at KSW 115 in February.
The rest of the card
The most violent finish belonged to Adam Soldaev, who stunned Mateusz Makarowski with a big right hand and finished him with a follow-up punch at 4:17 of round one. He too missed weight and lost a point. Wilson Varela won his rematch with Marian Ziółkowski from the bottom: Ziółkowski dropped him with a right hand, followed him to the mat and got caught in an armbar at 3:40 of round one.
Igor Włodarczyk stayed unbeaten by spending most of three rounds on Welisson Paiva’s back, Szymon Bajor outlasted Kacper Paczóski over 15 minutes at heavyweight, and Andrzej Karkula won his bantamweight prelim on points. The most contentious result was Sergiusz Zając’s KO of Salim El Ouassaidi at 1:09 of round one, after Zając had missed weight by 2.6 kg. El Ouassaidi’s team protested that strikes in the finish landed on the back of the head, and on 15 October a three-referee KSW panel rejected the protest and kept the result.
KSW 122 full results
Main event first. Results, methods and times from KSW’s official results page; Sherdog’s results match on every bout. Where a fighter missed weight, KSW docked one point at the start of round one.
| Bout (winner first) | Weight | Result | Round / time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vitalii Yakymenko def. Marcello Morelli (KSW bantamweight title) | 61.2 kg | Submission (kneebar) | R5, 1:09 |
| Andrzej Grzebyk def. Laïd Zerhouni | 83.9 kg (Zerhouni missed weight) | Majority decision (29-27, 29-27, 28-28) | R3, 5:00 |
| Adam Soldaev def. Mateusz Makarowski | 70.3 kg (Soldaev missed weight) | KO (punch) | R1, 4:17 |
| Wilson Varela def. Marian Ziółkowski | 70.3 kg | Submission (armbar) | R1, 3:40 |
| Igor Włodarczyk def. Welisson Paiva | 70.3 kg | Unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-27) | R3, 5:00 |
| Szymon Bajor def. Kacper Paczóski | 120.2 kg | Unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) | R3, 5:00 |
| Andrzej Karkula def. Kamil Korzeniowski | 61.2 kg | Unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) | R3, 5:00 |
| Kristians Boguzs def. Kacper Cholewa | 70.3 kg | TKO (punches) | R3, 1:36 |
| Sergiusz Zając def. Salim El Ouassaidi | 95 kg (Zając missed weight) | KO | R1, 1:09 |
What’s next for the winners
Yakymenko wants to move up for a shot at featherweight champion Patryk Kaczmarczyk. “Maybe it’s time to change divisions,” he told KSW, though nothing has been booked. Grzebyk told KSW he’s “at KSW’s disposal” at 84 kg or 77 kg. Boguzs’s request is simple: in a KSW clip after the fight he said he doesn’t mind who’s next, as long as it’s someone in the top 15. In KSW’s updated rankings, Grzebyk entered at sixth at middleweight, Soldaev at third at lightweight, Varela rose to sixth and Karkula entered at eighth at bantamweight. KSW’s next event is KSW 123 in Szczecin on 21 November, where Latvia’s Madars Fleminas fights Mateusz Pawlik; our Fleminas vs Pawlik preview has the details.
