Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki


Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki, better known by its initials KSW, is widely considered to be the premier mixed martial arts organization in Poland and one of the leading in Europe.
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Awards

  • Violent Money TV
  • *VMTV European Promotion of the Year 2022

History

Martin Lewandowski had been the manager of the Hotel 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.
The promotion is famed for its four and eight-man tournaments, which until KSW X - Dekalog took place over the period of one night, 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 the UFC, 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. 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 the Pride Shockwave in 2002 and ahead of UFC 193.
Several fighters who have been successful in KSW have signed on to more well known promotions such as the UFC. KSW has its own fight team, the KSW Team, which consists of some of the promotion's elite fighters, such as Mamed 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 throughout Europe. Since KSW XI, the promotion runs its shows live on nationally available at private free-to-air television network Polsat.

Viaplay era

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.

Cooperation with XTB

In October 2022, it was announced that as part of the extension of cooperation with XTB - 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 in Łódź, Toruń, Radom and Warsaw.

Hall of Fame

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. The first honored player inducted into the Hall of Fame was former KSW commentator and the first KSW tournament champion, Łukasz "Juras" Jurkowski . The official ceremony of Jurkowski's introduction to the Hall of Fame took place during the XTB KSW 83: Colosseum 2 gala.

Special XTB KSW Epic gala

On February 24, 2024, a special XTB KSW Epic gala took place, focusing on organizing fights in formulas other than just MMA. During the fight of the evening of this event, Mamed Chalidow and Tomasz Adamek crossed gloves in the boxing formula.
The KSW ring announcer is Waldemar Kasta, a former rapper born in Wrocław.

Rankings

The rankings for the KSW's fighters are both recorded and updated when information has been obtained from the KSW's website.

List of KSW events

Past events

List of KSW events:

Event locations

  • The following cities have hosted a total of 121 KSW events as of XTB KSW 114: Parnasse vs. Held

Championship history

Women's flyweight championship

KSW fighters

Notable fighters

Poland
Brazil
United States
England
Croatia
Japan
Czech Republic
France
Germany
Netherlands
Ukraine
Serbia
Slovakia
Australia
Lithuania
Russia
Sweden
Turkey
Other