On Saturday night, KSW 24 — dubbed “The Clash of the Giants” — saw Polish colossus Mariusz Pudzianowksi get his rematch against Sean McCorkle.
Heading into the bout, “Big Sexy” said the big difference was that this time he was in shape, and wanted to finish the fight on the feet. That plan flew out the window right away, as he appeared to gas out early and spent the bulk of the first round on his back. The two met like titanic slabs in the middle of the ring at Atlas Arena, and Pudzianowski threw the one-time UFC fighter McCorkle to the canvas kept him there for the duration.
In the second round, Pudzianowski bulldozed McCorkle into the ropes again, and it looked like a repeat of the first, only midway through McCorkle went for a kimura and was able to reverse Pudzianowski and end up on top. McCorkle was physically exhausted at the end of the round, and was unable to answer the bell in the third.
Pudzianowski (6-3) avenged his loss at KSW 23 to McCorkle (17-6), who won via kimura in the first round. The American had said he actually let up that time, not wanting to break the five-time World Strongest Man’s arm. Afterwards, McCorkle asked KSW for the trilogy fight with “Pudzian.”
In other action, the inaugural KSW heavyweight title was up for grabs when 43-year old judoka Pawel Nastula fought Karol Bedorf in the co-main event. The plodding Bedorf — who back in 2007, in far leaner times, defeated Francis Carmont in his first ever pro MMA bout in Warsaw — was able to withstand some early pressure to knock out Nastula midway through the second round.
When Nastula returned to his feet after the knockout, the Polish crowd gave the one-time Olympic gold medalist a standing ovation.
Update: The main event between Sean McCorkle and Mariusz Pudzianowski was actually only scheduled for two rounds. Therefore, Pudzianowski won the KSW 24 main event via decision, not because McCorkle retired after the second round. Nevertheless, he would like to do a rubber match.