Saturday’s KSW 65 card in Gliwice, Poland was topped by a champion vs. champion match-up billed as a super-fight.
It did not disappoint.
The main event middleweight showdown featured 170lb champ Roberto Soldic moving up in weight to face Mamed Khalidov. For Soldic, it was a chance at a second title, and bragging rights — both men had long been considered two of the promotion’s best.
In the end, it was Croatia’s Soldic taking home extra hardware in a fight that delivered a massive finish.
Soldic fired off some powerful kicks in the opening round, targeting the body and legs. But Khalidov appeared unphased, and before long, the middleweight champ caught Soldic out of position off a stumble and took the fight to the ground. Khalidov looked in his element there, and it felt like that might be the story of the fight. Where Solidc found success was with his left hand, landing it more than once in the opening five minutes.
That would foreshadow the eventual end.
In the second round, after an early halt to the action for a foul, the pair wound up trading alongside the fence. There, Solidic landed a left hand that absolutely cracked Khalidov on the jaw. Khalidov went down in a heap, and Soldic followed up with a couple of heavy hammer fists.
The scariest fighter on the planet!!!
🇭🇷 @Soldic_MMA 👑👑 KO's the legendary Mamed Khalidov to become KSW Double Champ!! #KSW65 pic.twitter.com/HL5o9yjbz1
— KSW (@KSW_MMA) December 19, 2021
Mamed Khalidov did not get back up for some time. Bloodied and swollen, he was tended to by medical staff for several minutes, nose packed with gauze. The end was violent, definitive, and with it, Roberto Soldic was MMA’s latest double champ.
Official Result: Roberto Soldić def. Mamed Khalidov (c) by KO, Round 2, 3:40
