Wilson Varela beat Marian Ziółkowski at KSW 122 on Saturday in Rzeszów, Poland, in a fight the promotion itself labeled the “comeback of the year.” Heavyweight Szymon Bajor won a unanimous decision over Kacper Paczóski in front of his home crowd at Hala Podpromie, which KSW noted on X was the 40th professional fight of his career.
Varela had plenty of energy left afterward. In a post-fight interview the promotion shared on X, he made the case that his performance should earn him a purple belt in jiu-jitsu. Lightweight Adam Soldaev also got his hand raised against Mateusz Makarowski. KSW called it a spectacular win, and his post-fight interview apparently covered, among other things, where to find the best pizza in Sweden.
A messy Friday at the scale
Three main card fighters missed weight, and each was hit with a fine plus a one-point deduction to open his fight, according to Cageside Press. Laïd Zerhouni lost 40% of his purse ahead of his middleweight bout with Andrzej Grzebyk. Soldaev forfeited 30%, which makes his win more impressive, since he walked into Round 1 already down a point. Sergiusz Zając took the biggest hit at 50%, and his light heavyweight fight with Salim El Ouassaidi was moved to catchweight/heavyweight.
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Zając had originally been booked against Bartosz Szewczyk, who withdrew injured. The r/MMA event thread also listed two other cancellations: Adrian Bartosiński vs. Adam Masaev, scrapped after a Masaev injury, and Sebastian Decowski vs. Andrzej Karkula, scrapped after Decowski got hurt. Karkula stayed on the prelims against Kamil Korzeniowski. In the other prelim, Latvian Kristians Boguzs made his second KSW appearance against promotional newcomer Kacper Cholewa.
The title fight
The headliner had bantamweight champion Vitalii Yakymenko of Ukraine making his first title defense against Marcello Morelli. Yakymenko won the belt by dethroning Sebastian Przybysz. Morelli is a Venezuelan who trains in Warsaw. He lost a title fight to Przybysz last year and earned a quick return to championship contention with two straight wins. None of the coverage available at press time detailed how the main event ended, and Knockout Daily will update once it’s confirmed.
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The night also had a charity moment. Kamil Kotyniak, who won a WOŚP auction run with KSW and eBilet, joined announcer Wally Kasta in the cage for one of the evening’s announcements.
My take: three weight misses on one card is too many, and a 50% fine with a bout bumped up a division means the cut went badly wrong, not narrowly. Soldaev gets credit for overcoming a point he handed away himself. He also gets a lecture. A fighter who can win a spectacular one from behind on the cards could have won it without the handicap, and KSW’s matchmakers would much rather book him at 155 than wonder which weight he’ll show up at next time.
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