December will see the final event of the year go down for Poland’s KSW. And come KSW 57 on December 19, two titles will be on the line.
On Monday, promotion officials announced via press release that both the bantamweight and heavyweight titles would be defended at the event. Which gives both Phil De Fries and Antun Racic a chance to pick up a title defense.
De Fries (18-6), KSW’s reigning heavyweight champ, is currently on one of the best runs of his career. With six straight wins in KSW, Bellator, and elsewhere, the British fighter has looked solid, and defended his belt three times since first capturing the title in 2018. However, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic kept De Fries on the sidelines through most of 2020, and it will have been well over a year since his last fight when he returns at KSW 57.
Challenging for the former UFC fighter’s heavyweight title will be Michal Kita (20-11-1). Kita holds back-to-back first round stoppages in KSW, including one over former title challenger Michal Andryszak. He also holds 17 career stoppages.
At bantamweight, meanwhile, Antun Racic (24-8-1) will look to secure the first defense of his 135lb title. The Croatian won the belt by defeating Damian Stasiak at KSW 51 last year, in the process becoming the promotion’s inaugural bantamweight champion. Racic’s KSW 57 opponent has yet to be announced.
Also announced for the KSW 57 card is Borys Mankowski (21-8-1). The former welterweight champ will compete in a lightweight bout against an opponent also to be named later.
