This weekend will be a big one for combat sports, with UFC 309 and KSW 100 being huge MMA events. There is a Cage Warriors card as well as Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson. I haven't written an article in awhile as I had to take some time off to study for my end of year exams, and the Contender Series also took up a lot of time so I had to catch up on a couple of things. Over Summer I am working a job full time so with a set schedule I should be able to put out more content.

KSW 100: Khalidov vs. Bartosinski

This is a huge landmark event for arguable the biggest MMA promotion in Europe, as KSW is hosting KSW 100 in front of 14,000 fans. The event will air on PPV at 01:00 PM ET on Saturday.

Mamed Khalidov (37-8-2) vs. ADRIAN BARTOSINSKI (16-0) – Middleweight

Mamed Khalidov is in another super fight, this time against one of KSW's most dominant champions in Adrian Bartosinski. Bartosinski is KSW's Welterweight champion and has defended his belt at 170 twice. Mamed Khalidov is now 44 years old but it still doesn't look like he has drastically slowed down. 33 of his wins have come by finish and most of them in the first round. Khalidov is a very dynamic striker and still looks to have some speed. In this fight he will probably want to use his wrestling as he is fighting a very dangerous striker. He has great round and pound and submission ability but is overall a very well rounded fighter. Bartosinski is a very dangerous, pressure forward striker. He recently showcased more tools in his belt when he fought the much smaller Parnasse by bullying him in the clinch with his size advantage, and he found a submission in his most recent fight. He's fighting now up a weight class to meet Khalidov so he won't be able to bully Khalidov with his size. But he will be able to pressure forward and try to land his leg kicks to set up his hands. I am going to pick Bartosinski. Recently Khalidov has mostly been fighting in fun fights, such as his match up against Pudzianowski and his boxing fight. Bartosinski is still only 29 years old and has been fighting in title fights. I like Bartosinski to eventually wear on Khalidov and get a KO/TKO win in rounds 2 or 3.

Pick: Adrian Bartosinski by KO/TKO. Medium confidence.

PHIL DE FRIES (25-6) vs. DARKO STOSIC 2 (21-6) – Heavyweight Championship

It seems like KSW can't find anyone to beat de Fries. de Fries is on one of the most underrated championship runs as he has defended his KSW heavyweight title 10 times since winning the belt in 2018. In that time he has defeated Darko Stosic but they will rematch now that Stosic has a few wins in a row. In the last couple of years it seems as though KSW has been signing guys just to get de Fries a new fight, such as the Todd Duffee siging which was odd as Duffee hadn't fought for years, and giving Augusto Sakai a title shot. Either way, de Fries has beat every contender KSW has put in front of him. His best skill set is his grappling which is very good for this weight class where there aren't many grapplers. He does use his length quite well on the feet but I wouldn't describe him as being the most dangerous guy. I would say that Stosic is dangerous though as he has a lot of power. He is a shorter guy for heavyweight as he used to fight at light heavyweight in the UFC. He is on a 4 fight KO win streak and shoudl rpesent a new threat to de Fries title reign. He mostly closes the distance to land hooks, and he even dropped Shamil Gaziev in their fight which is his most recent loss. We have already seen this fight take place where de Fries wore down Stosic, forcing him to retire due to exhaustion. Stosic is tough but it's hard to deny de Fries and I will side with him to win by decision, or find a late finish over a tired Stosic.

Pick: Phil de Fries by decision or late finish. Low-medium confidence.

RAFAL HARATYK (19-5-2) vs. MARCIN WOJCIK 2 (20-9) – Light Heavyweight Championship

This is a tough one to predict as it is a rematch. In the first fight Haratyk caught Wojcik with a huge overhand which dropped him. It's odd visiting this fight now as someone who doesn't consistently watch KSW, and from what I have seen I actually like Wojcik more. Haratyk is a fighter I am familiar with as he fought Abdoul Abdouragimov at middleweight in Ares FC, and was winning until he got finished very late in the fight. He is now the KSW Light Heavyweight champion and he won the title in a one night tournament, where he defeated Wojcik to make the finals. He is a well rounded and will use his wrestling if necessary but mostly likes to strike. Wojcik is a very experienced fighter who has shown his skills in many promotions. In 2022 he fought for the PFL and defeated Mick Stanton, but before that he had fought for Cage Warriors and fought Modestas Bukauskas. Watching him fight he looks huge, even though he is only 6'1″ in this heavy weight class. He stalks his opponents and has a very relaxed striking style – maybe too relaxes as he often holds his hands by his waist. He controls the cage well and applies pressure. He hits hard when he lands. I have seen his grapple as he has shown great take down defense and top control. I am going to pick Wojcik to win and we might see a trilogy if that is the case.

Pick: Marcin Wojcik by KO/TKO. Low confidence.

ROBERT RUCHALA (10-1) vs. KACPER FORMELA (18-4) – Featherweight Interim Championship

I don't feel great about predicting this fight. It looks like a mirror match up between two wrestlers. Ruchala is a former interim champion himself where he fought the champion Parnasse recently, but he looked very unimpressive. It could be the Parnasse effect but he was outclassed every where and looked lost on the feet. Formela also looks like a wrestler but he's having less impressive performances. He had a close fight in his KSW debut. His striking isn't bad but he has been getting hurt in a few recent fights. I don't like this fight to pick at all.

Pick: Robert Ruchala to win by decision. Low confidence.

OTHER PICKS:

Arkadiusz Wrzsozek to win by KO/TKO in round 1. Medium-high confidence

Igor Mchaliszyn to win by decision. Low confidence.

Piotr Kuberski to win by KO/TKO. Low-medium confidence

Cage Warriors 180

Cage Warriors hosts an event which is guaranteed to have some fireworks. The card is broadcast on UFC Fight Pass on Friday 15th November at 12:30 PM ET.

LIAM GITTINS (13-4) vs. SHIRZAD QADRIAN (7-1) – Bantamweight Championship

This should be a fun main event as Liam Gittins is a Muay Thai striker who can mix in wrestling, and Qadrian is very strictly a wrestler. Shirzad Qadrian recently won the one night tournament in July where he won two decisions with his wrestling. Against Loof he had some really good submission attempts and looked like he trying to pull off a suloev stretch at one point. He really only wrestles and doesn't throw much ground and pound. Gittins will have a striking advantage here but recently he has really been mixing in his take downs and winning with top control and ground and pound. In this fight I don't think that he should attempt take downs though as Shirzad looks to be a stronger wrestler. As long as the fight is on the feet it heavily favours Gittins and Gittins should have much better take down defense than Loof. I am picking Gittins to win by KO/TKO in round 3, 4, or 5.

Pick: Liam Gittins to win by KO/TKO. Medium confidence.

ANDY CLAMP (14-2) vs. JAMES WEBB (10-5) – Light Heavyweight Championship

This is Andy Clamp's first title defense since he won the vacant title against Matthew Byfield. Clamp is a tall guy for the weight class and on the feet fights from range using kicks from range. I would say that he is a much better grappler though. His wrestling isn't the best but once he gets he fight down he has strong top control and ground and pound, and can find submissions. Webb is a pretty typical pressure boxer. He can wrestle offensively but for the most part he wants to scrap. He actually nearly took the title off Mick Stanton last year as he caught Stanton multiple times, but Stanton ended up landing a couple big left hooks for a come back win. On the feet Webb will make Clamp uncomfortable as he constantly pushes forwards and throws heavy strikes in the pocket – And we saw Clamp lose to a similar style he got knocked out by Charlie Campbell. I do think Clamp has a big advantage on the ground though and Webb does give up his back. So it's either Webb winning by KO or Clamp winning by submission in my opinion.

Pick: Andy Clamp to win by submission. Low confidence.

WESLLEY MAIA (9-6) vs. ALEXANDER LOOF (7-2) – Bantamweight

This is going to be a scrap but I think Loof will come out on top. Someone is getting knocked out and in this fight I think it will be Maia. We haven't seen Loof get a KO in a while but he does have big power and I think he can show it here.

Pick: Alexander Loof by KO/TKO. Low-medium confidence.

ADAM CULLEN (8-2) vs. TOBIAS HARILA (13-4) – Lightweight

The more I look into this fight the more I like Harila. Harila is a scrapper who isn't technical but he is a wild man. He's always coming forward and throwing hooks, looking for a war. he was meant to fight on the Contender Series but he has some pretty serious visa issues which means he can't be granted a visa in is the U.S. He is fighting Cullen at lightweight which is going to be a big advantage for Cullen as he is a grappler and will be bigger. The problem with Cullen though is that he looked very tentative on the feet, and his striking isn't very good. Unless Cullen can get take downs early and often, Harila will have many opportunities to get a KO.

Pick: Tobias Harila by KO/TKO. Medium confidence.