Highlights! De Fries Does It Again, Sleeps Opponent To Defend Title

Phil De Fries once again proved he’s one of the best heavyweight fighters outside of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) when the stopped Szymon Bajor earlier today (Sat., Jul 15, 2023) at KSW 84 from inside Gdynia Arena in Gdynia, Poland. The English veteran scored a second-round submission finish and ended up defending his KSW heavyweight title for the ninth-straight time.

The KSW 84 card was spitting out ridiculous action from the first opening bell. From spinning back elbows to head-splitting knees, the event delivered like it usually does. Seeing De Fries defend his heavyweight crown yet again in the main event was just icing on the cake.

De Fries was the betting favorite for this fight and sure looked the part. The KSW champ was able to utilize his grappling in the second round to subdue Bajor, who was coming off a four-fight win streak. De Fries got back control and sunk in a tight rear-naked choke with seconds on the clock. Bajor defended as long as he could before going to sleep and forcing the referee’s hand.

Check out the highlights in the above video player.

De Fries, 37, is now on a 12-fight win streak and still undefeated inside of the KSW cage (10-0). The Englishman wasn’t that great when he fought on the UFC roster from 2011-2013, but he’s been an absolute beast since 2017. It will be interesting to see how long De Fries can keep this dominance up, especially if KSW does a cross-promotion with Professional Fighters League (PFL) and Francis Ngannou gets in this mix.