Highlights: KSW Pride Rules Fight Ends With Stomps, Soccer Kicks

KSW Epic took MMA fans back to the early 2000s on Saturday night with its No Holds Barred / PRIDE Rules fights.

KSW Epic went down on Saturday, February 24th, 2024, from Gliwice Arena in Poland, and as usual it was a wild affair. Even more wild than usual given the unusual format of the night. Instead of a typical card featuring nothing but MMA fights, KSW Epic featured an extensive array of different bout types.

There was boxing, there was grappling, there was Muay Thai. There was a four-man one night tournament. There was even some oldschool No Holds Barred / PRIDE Rules fights that ended in appropriately violent fashion. For those of you too young to remember, PRIDE FC in Japan allowed stomps and soccer kicks to a downed opponent, which ended more than one night for wrestlers who felt a bit too safe on the ground.

We got to see the effective finishing power of stomps and kicks again at KSW epic during the Muslim Tulshaev vs. Konrad Rusinski fight. Early in the third round, Tulshaev knocked Rusinski down and used the modified ruleset (or lack thereof) to stomp and soccer kick Rusinski to a stoppage. Rusinski was basically done after the first stomp, but the ref seemed more interested in Tulshaev holding the cage than kicking his opponent in the face.

Here’s a new angle of the finish provided by KSW:

And check out the finish as it aired originally on the KSW Epic pay-per-view:

KSW has gained a reputation for being one of the most entertaining and successful fight leagues in Europe. Every event is worth checking out, but these Epic shows are something else. Here’s hoping we see more of them in the future.

KSW Epic Full Results
Tomasz Adamek defeats Mamed Khalidov via TKO – Hand Injury (Round 3, 3:00) – Boxing match
Rafal Haratyk defeats Damian Piwowarczyk via Decision – Split (Round 3, 5:00)
Haratyk becomes the KSW light-heavyweight world champion
Josh Barnett vs Phil De Fries ends in a Draw – Judge’s Decision (Round 1, 10:00) – Grappling match
Vaclav Sivak defeats Michael Krolik via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 3:00) – Muay Thai match
Darko Stosic defeats Matheus Scheffel via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 1:12) – PRIDE rules
Rafael Haratyk defeats Marcin Wojcik via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 4:05)
Damian Piwowarczyk defeats Kleber Raimundo Silva via KO – Punch to the Body (Round 1, 2:34)
Ivan Erslan defeats Bohdan Gdnidko via KO – Punch (Round 1, 0:54)
Muslim Tulshaev defeats Konrad Rusinski via TKO – Soccer Kicks (Round 3, 0:32) – No holds barred match
Piotr Kacprzak defeats Adam Brysz via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 1:16) – Gi MMA match