Two of KSW’s most explosive stars are set to go head to head in a middleweight superfight in the main event of KSW 56.
KSW officials confirmed to MMA Junkie that the promotion’s two-time welterweight champion Roberto Soldic will move up to middleweight to take on former 185-pound champion Michal Materla at the event, which takes place at Wytwórnia in Lodz, Poland on Saturday, Nov. 14. The event streams live via online pay-per-view at KSWTV.com, and will be held behind closed doors due to the current COVID-19 restrictions in Poland.
Renowned for his concussive punch power, Croatia’s Soldic (17-3) has claimed 14 of his professional victories via knockout. He captured the KSW welterweight title in December 2017 with a TKO win over Borys Mankowski, but lost the belt to South Africa’s Dricus Du Plessis in his first title defense at KSW 43 four months later.
Soldic avenged that loss in the rematch with a crushing third-round TKO finish at KSW 45 in London to reclaim the title, and followed up with back-to-back first-round knockouts of Vinicius Bohrer and Kryzstian Kaszubowski. Most recently, the 25-year-old returned to England’s capital to outpoint Michal Pietrzak at KSW 50 in September 2019.
Materla (29-7) held the KSW middleweight title for three and a half years between May 2012 and November 2015, and has finished 23 of his career wins inside the distance, with 10 coming via knockout and 13 coming by way of submission.
Like Soldic, Materla is renowned for his knockout power, and has used his striking to finish former UFC veterans Paulo Thiago, Rousimar Balhares and Tomasz Drwal, as well as Olympic wrestling medalist Damian Janikowski, during his KSW career. In addition to his 10 career knockouts, the Polish veteran also holds 13 career wins via submission.
The 36-year-old Pole has claimed each of his last nine victories inside the distance and is currently riding a two-fight win streak, including a second-round TKO finish of Aleksandar Ilic at KSW 55 earlier this month. He’ll now make a swift turnaround to face Soldic at the promotion’s next event.