Mamed Khalidov Flatlines Scott Askham, Seals Trilogy at KSW 83 'Colosseum 2'

WOOOW!!! MAMED KHALIDOV!!!

He does it again!!! XTB #KSWColosseum2 pic.twitter.com/IIAZGTfZ8i

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) June 3, 2023

In front of a fully-packed PGE Narodowy Arena in Krakow, Poland, KSW 83 "Colosseum 2" delivered a contender for the “Card of the Year” honors with entertaining battles, submissions, knockouts and last-minute drama.

The stacked card was headlined by the highly-anticipated rubber match between former two-division titleholder Mamed Khalidov and former middleweight champion Scott Askham. Khalidov dropped a unanimous decision in his first clash with Askham, but he rebounded with back-to-back knockout victories over his opponent — including on Saturday — to win the trilogy. Khalidov (37-8-2, 21-4-2 KSW) dominated the first stanza thanks to a well-timed takedown and ground position. Askham (19-6, 4-2 KSW) looked for scrambles but never seemed to control the fight’s direction.

The contestants spent much of Round 2 in a 50-50 position, with Askham attempting to lock a heel hook in and a smirking Khalidov retaliating with sporadic hammerfists. Khalidov ended the round with a sudden takedown. Askham landed an involuntary low blow early in the third frame, which forced Khalidov to take a break. After recovering from the shot, Khalidov knocked down Askham with a sidekick. When Askham shot for a takedown after returning to his feet, Khalidov fired a flying switch kick that flattened his adversary. Khalidov scored with a couple more punches before referee Tomasz Brunner mercifully stopped the contest at the 1:03 mark of Round 3.

A last-minute issue prevented the scheduled lightweight championship unification bout between Marian Ziolkowski and Salahdine Parnasse from going down after Ziolkowski injured his knee while warming up. “The Golden Boy” walked out to the cage to relinquish his 155-pound championship, with Parnasse being promoted from interim to undisputed lightweight champion.

SZPILKA finishes PUDZIAN!!! 🤯

XTB #KSWColosseum2 @szpilka_artur pic.twitter.com/djjUq4HBM9

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) June 3, 2023

In the short-notice promoted co-headliner, Artur Szpilka wobbled Mariusz Pudzianowski in their heavyweight affair. Initially, it seemed fans were about to see a classic “Pudzian” performance, with Pudzianowski (17-9, 1N C, 17-8, 1 NC KSW) landing a successful takedown before unloading heavy shots of ground-and-pound. Szpilka (3-0, 2-0 KSW) looked to limit the damage as much as possible, but there were times when referee Marc Goddard took a very close look at the former boxer’s reactions. Still, Szpilka managed to survive the opening frame. With Pudzianowski evidently short on the oxygen tank, Szpilka finally showcased his boxing background and knocked Pudzianowski down with a powerful two-piece combination. Szpilka then followed up with more punches, forcing the referee to call the end of the fight 31 seconds into Round 2.

MATERLA!!!! 💣 XTB #KSWColosseum2

The legend rewinds the clock!! WHOA!!! pic.twitter.com/iM2rA8wCHS

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) June 3, 2023

Elsewhere, Pawel Pawlak (22-4-1, 4-0 KSW) stopped Tomasz Romanowski (18-9, 1 NC, 6-2 KSW) with elbows in the fifth round after dominating his foe throughout their clash, capturing the vacant KSW 185-pound title; Arkadiusz Wrzosek (3-0, 3-0 KSW) forced Bogdan Stoica (0-1, 0-1 KSW) to tap to a forearm choke in the opening frame of their heavyweight tilt; and KSW veteran Michal Materla (33-9, 22-7 KSW) scored a remarkable comeback by knocking out Radoslaw Paczuski (5-2, 2-2 KSW) at 1:37 of Round 1 at middleweight.

KNOCKED OUT from FULL MOUNT! 🤯

Former WBO cruiserweight champ 🇵🇱 Krzysztof Głowacki is dangerous from anywhere!!

XTB #KSWColosseum2 pic.twitter.com/7pZI71yaPX

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) June 3, 2023

On the preliminary card, Valeriu Mircea (29-8-1, 3-1 KSW) took home a narrow split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) over Roman Szymanski (17-7, 9-4 KSW) in their hard-fought lightweight rematch; Daniel Rutkowski (16-3, 1 NC, 4-1 KSW) upended Adam Soldaev (8-1, 3-0 KSW) on all scorecards (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) at featherweight; 145-pounder Leo Brichta (11-3, 1 NC, 1-0 KSW) edged Maciej Kazieczko (9-3, 8-3 KSW) thanks to a narrow split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29); former WBO cruiserweight boxing titleholder Krzysztof Glowacki (1-0, 1-0 KSW) scored a knockout of the year contender after finishing Patryk Tolkaczewski (0-1, 0-1 KSW) from the bottom in the full-mount position at 1:33 of Round 1 at heavyweight; Mariusz Joniak (11-4, 1-0 KSW) overcame Sebastian Romanowski (14-11-1, 0-1 KSW) thanks to a majority decision (29-28, 29-27, 28-28) in their 163-pound catchweight bout.