Sengoku middleweight contender Mamed Khalidov fought to a draw against a former DEEP champion, while five-time World 's Strongest Man champion Mariusz Pudzianowski was victorious against a DEEP champion Friday at KSW 13 in Katowice, Poland.
Khalidov, now 20-4-2, retained his KSW championship against PRIDE veteran Ryuta Sakurai (20-15-6) after three, five-minute rounds and one, three-minute overtime round.
Seconds into the fight, Khalidov unintentionally halted the fight by landing a left kick below the belt (a low kick would also stall the fight in the fourth round). Once the fight resumed, Khalidov scored the takedown at 4:34 and attempted the heel hook. Sakurai escaped and attacked with a kimura from halfguard. Khalidov S-gripped and rolled into closed guard for the escape. When the fight was stood up, the two clinched and Sakurai fell on top of Khalidov in the final minute of the round.
Khalidov went after Sakurai with three guillotine attempts in the second and third periods, but was outmatched in the wrestling department. After three rounds, the judges asked for an overtime which saw each fighter score a takedown and score on ground and pound strikes.
Khalidov was coming off a loss in a title fight against Jorge Santiago at Sengoku 12 in March. Khalidov had knocked out Santiago at Sengoku 11 in November, but the bout at the time was a non-title affair.
In his second professional MMA fight, Pudzianowski (2-0) squeaked through with a majority decision win over DEEP Megaton (the promotion's XXL division) champion Yusuke Kawaguchi (11-2) after two rounds.
The fight was basically a sloppy brawl with Pudzianowski taking the fight on four takedowns, the highlight being a powerful suplex in the first round (video above). But it's probably not going to look good for him when he faces Tim Sylvia at Moosin on May 21 in Worcester, Mass. Pudzianowski's cardio faded early, stuck his chin out in his punch exchanges and proved inefficient once the fight went to the floor.
Round 2:
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