- Mamed Khalidov finished his fellow KSW legend Mariusz Pudzianowski via first-round TKO at KSW 77
- The 42-year-old is now back in the win column after two years
The highly-touted KSW 77 heavyweight main event bout between Mamed Khalidov and Mariusz Pudzianowski didn’t last long as one man immediately dismantle the other early in the fight. That man was former two-division KSW champion Khalidov, who scored a quick TKO victory over his opponent in the very first round.
A dominant performance
Khalidov came in prepared for an all-out war at the Arena Gliwice in Gliwice, Poland Saturday. The 42-year-old did not waste time gauging Pudzianowski and shot for takedown attempt which he managed to successfully pull off via a trip. Once on the ground, Khalidov transitioned to side guard before establishing a full mount and began mauling the five-time World’s Strongest Man winner with some vicious ground-and-pound.
Veteran Referee Marc Goddard decided he had seen enough and called to stop the fight at 1:54 of the very first round, declaring Khalidov as the winner via TKO.
Watch the thrilling highlight below:
𝐌𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐊𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐃𝐎𝐕 just beat 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐔𝐒𝐙 𝐏𝐔𝐃𝐙𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐒𝐊𝐈!!! XTB #KSW77
The King of the KSW Legends 👑 pic.twitter.com/RLqhKipBLr
— KSW (@KSW_MMA) December 17, 2022
Successful return
The win over his fellow KSW stalwart was Khalidov’s first victory since 2020. He was coming off a middleweight title fight defeat to current ONE star Roberto Soldic at KSW 65 last year but he still managed to find success after one year layoff.
On the other hand, the 45-year-old Pudzianowski faced the complete opposite as he came in off an impressive five-fight win streak, including the vicious KO win over Michal Materla at KSW 70 in May.
Both MMA veterans are considered pioneers of KSW and after that electrifying match, Khalidov and Pudzianowski proved that they could still headline an event despite their age.
