KSW champ Scott Askham wants to welcome Mamed Khalidov back to cage with KO

KSW middleweight champion Scott Askham knew he would be in Mamed Khalidov’s sights as soon as the Polish MMA star announced his return from retirement, but he admits he was left bewildered when their fight at KSW 52 was booked as a non-title fight, at a catchweight of 187 pounds.

“We all know he’s the (expletive) guy,” Askham told MMA Junkie from Gliwice ahead of the bout on Dec. 7. “So we all know that if he wanted to fight for the title, we’d be fighting for the title. He’s the star, he’s the legend, so why is he coming back but not challenging me for the title? It’s a great question, and it’s a question that baffles me, as well.”

Askham (18-4 MMA, 3-0 KSW) said he was all set to take issue with Khalidov (34-6-2 MMA, 17-2-2 KSW) and call him out on his apparent unwillingness to challenge for the title when they met at the first promotional press conference to announce the fight. But he admitted that Khalidov’s respectful attitude completely disarmed him while on the dais.

“When the Polish media asked him about it at the first press conference, he answered the question in a way that was so respectful towards me that I couldn’t really go back at him and call BS on it,” Askham said with a laugh. “It is what it is. I’ve got the fight I wanted.”

The fight itself pits current 185-pound champ Askham with arguably the best middleweight in KSW history. And while Askham’s record since joining the Polish promotion is spectacular – three knockouts, with two via body kick and one via flying knee – he says it’s Khalidov’s fear of being dragged into the championship rounds that led him to sign for a non-title fight at just two pounds higher than official championship weight.

“It’s a three-round fight – that’s the reason it’s not for the belt,” Askham explained. That’s 100 percent the reason why he’s not fighting for the belt – it’s because he didn’t want the five rounds. Everyone who watches Mamed knows he doesn’t have a five-round style. He fades in the later rounds.”

Askham, meanwhile, has no such concerns. He hasn’t seen a scorecard since joining KSW, and says his latest run of knockout finishes has been a direct result of his decision to base his training out of American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla.

“Since joining American Top Team I just feel like I keep leveling up and leveling up,” he explained. “Steve Bruno, my striking coach, has made me a completely different striker now. I used to be a counter striker, and although I knocked some people out, when I didn’t finish people I didn’t win too many rounds. Now I’m a different striker altogether. I’m taking people out through confidence and precision striking. I’m landing the strikes in the right places and they’re taking people out.”

With his striking weapons sharpened and the confidence of a man who is now fulfilling his fighting potential, Askham says he’s ready to take on Khalidov and cement his position as the premier 185 pounder in KSW. But while the media and fans in Poland have put Khalidov up on a pedestal, Askham sees him as just another challenge.

“I keep seeing all over social media: ‘legend’ this, ‘legend’ that, ‘a legend returns’, ‘Scott fights a legend.’ But I don’t get caught up in all that stuff. He’s just Mamed Khalidov to me – he’s not a legend in my eyes. I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. He’s just in the way of what I’m trying to do for myself. I’m going in there with the right mentality. He’ll get my respect coming into the fight, but when that cage door shuts, I’ll be more than ready for him.”

And for a man who admits he thrives when fighting on enemy territory, Askham says he would love nothing more than to finish his final fight of the year standing in the middle of the cage staring out at a silenced Gliwice crowd after handing Khalidov his first knockout loss in a decade and a half.

“That would be icing on the cake for this year,” he said. “I looked at his record and he hasn’t been knocked TKO’d since 2004, but I’m not one of those guys who’s going to say: ‘Yeah, I’m gonna knock him out!’ Of course, I’m always looking to knock people out, I look to land my strikes and the knockouts just come. But this is the goal. The first goal is to get the win, but the dream is to knock him out.”