KSW 45 announces middleweight tourney, fitness model Jun faces Popek Monster

Bringing out the big guns for Wembley arena, the Polish promotion is setting up a major return to the UK.

KSW finally returns to action this October 6th, and they’re making sure this card is fully loaded.

Popular fitness model Erko Jun (1-0) faces Polish rapper Pawel Mikolajuw, also known as Popek Monster. With over a million Instagram followers, Jun showed that he’s more than just a pretty face with his victory at KSW 44, when he slept Polish actor Tomasz Oświecieński. Training out of the increasingly popular USD Dusseldorf gym, Jun surprised many due to his composure and fighting ability for someone that didn’t even have an amateur record.

As for Popek, he’s been a savage. His wins over the aforementioned Oświecieński and against strongman Robert Burneika weren’t pretty, but they were full of aggression.

While KSW personnel didn’t disclose any possible theme for their next event when I asked prior to their last event, they’ve clearly gone with the very appropriate punk rock element for this one.

And seeing as they’ll be in England, it’ll be an interesting homecoming for former UFC fighter Scott Askham (16-4), who was surprisingly dominant and impressive against Michal Materla in his last outing. He’ll be a participant in a four-man tournament to decide the next challenger at middleweight, while that same title will be defended on this card.

His opponent will be Marcin Wojcik (11-5), who has had an great run at middleweight on the Polish circuit and had a recent win at KSW 42.

Former champ Michal Materla (26-6) will be in the oddest fight of the evening, as he meets Damian Janikowski (3-0). Perhaps most would find the experience disparity problematic, but Janikowski is a man that is perhaps the best natural athlete in the sport today not named Yoel Romero. His wrestling has been adapted well to MMA, but his striking is coming along. Materla has finishes over Antoni Chmielewski, Rousimar Palhares, Paulo Thiago, and Martin Zawada.

The card is expected to be headlined by a heavyweight title fight between current champ Phil de Fries (15-6) and KSW mainstay Karol Bedorf (15-3). The co-main appears to be a rematch between Roberto Soldić (13-3) and EFC’s dual welterweight and middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis (12-1).

KSW 45 is scheduled to take place on October 6th, starting at 10:00am EST.