Fight Facts: KSW 88 ‘Rutkowski vs. Kaczmarczyk’

UPPERCUT KNOCKOUT!!! 🤯

🇵🇱 MarcinWojcik!! 💪 XTB #KSW88 pic.twitter.com/F1t3PVP7ML

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) November 11, 2023

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW FIGHTS: 816
TOTAL NUMBER OF KSW EVENTS: 94

KSW headed south of its capital city of Warsaw to Radom for a fight card that unexpectedly grew before the event. No belt was up for grabs, but that mattered little, as fans got their money’s worth and more as the action was on full display throughout the billing. KSW 88 featured a sudden titanic betting favorite on fight night, a heavyweight that can move when he has to and an extremely unusual turn of events on weigh-in day.

Youth Springs Eternal: Younger underdog Patryk Kaczmarczyk sprang the upset in the main event by outworking Daniel Rutkowski en route to a decision. The losing “Rutek” had fought into the second round in 12 straight fights while seeing Round 3 in all but one of those 12 when he punted Filip Pejic in 2021.

Bearly Touched Him: Piotr Kuberski punched out Bartosz Lesko to build his win streak to 10 straight. “Qbear” has earned 10 of his 12 wins via stoppage, with all 10 knockouts.

A Little Giant: Early into the second round, Marcin Wojcik sparked Henrique da Silva. “The Giant” has now performed five straight finishes in two rounds or less, and he sports a finish rate of 89% as a pro.

One for Radom: Albert Odzimkowski put down Jorge Luiz Bueno Jr. in Round 2 with one punch. The Radom native thrilled home city fans as he boosted his career stoppage rate to 93%.

Heavy Hands, Light Feet: Needing just 66 seconds, Stefan Vojcak bounced back from his first pro defeat by decimating Kamil Gawryjolek. This finish for the Slovakian is tied with Michal Andryszak’s 2014 drubbing of Paul Slowinski for the ninth-fastest in KSW heavyweight history.

Any Way He Wants It: Still early into his career with just seven wins under his belt, Vojcak holds an equal distribution of knockouts to submissions, with three apiece. All six of his victories inside the distance have come in Round 1.

CHANGE PLACES! Originally, Daniel Tarchila and Ramzan Jembiev were slated to face one another at featherweight, but Jembiev weighed in nine pounds heavy. As a result, KSW broke apart the fight to give the two fighters new late-notice opponents. This resulted in the first weight miss in company history that added an additional bout to the lineup.

Aced an Amateur: Tarchila handled professional debutant Vladyslav Falbiychuk, tapping him with a first-round rear-naked choke. This quick triumph snapped a stretch of six fights for the 20-year-old that reached Round 3 or the final bell.

Someone Really Wanted Him on This Card: Like Tarchila, Jembiev made short work of the man who stepped in on a day’s notice. “Loup Noir” submitted Fabian Luczak in three minutes, and he has now won five straight since dropping his professional debut in 2018.

These Things Happen in KSW: Due to the opponent change, Jembiev closed as a massive -900 favorite against the +500 Luczak. The Frenchman is now tied with Mateusz Piskorz against Luiz Cado Simon, Szymon Kolecki against Akop Szostak and Philip De Fries against Ricardo Prasel as the fourth-highest betting favorite in organizational history.

Strawweights Ain’t Heavyweights: Maria Silva required all 15 minutes to get past Poland’s Anita Bekus. Through the 40 women’s bouts held in KSW history, the finish rate of those matches sits at 40%, well below the company’s overall rate of about 60.2%.

We Love You, Konrad: At the 93-second mark, Konrad Rusinski landed a rear-naked choke on Krystian Bielski. The member of Oleksiejczuk Team has notched five finishes across six career wins, and all five of those have taken place in the opening five minutes.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into KSW 88, Gawryjolek had never been defeated (five fights), Jembiev had never won by submission (five fights) and Bielski had never been submitted (14 fights).