Welcome to the Monday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today’s issue includes a preview of this week’s top events, plus a few small UFC news notes as well.
Just a reminder: The newsletter will be off Tuesday and will return on Wednesday. See you then!
A Look At The Week Ahead
Saturday
KSW 90
The MMA career of former GLORY Kickboxer Arkadiusz Wrzosek will continue this weekend in the main event of KSW 90. Wrzosek will take on heavyweight talent Ivan Vitasovic in the headlining spot of a card from Warsaw, Poland.
Wrzosek competed as a kickboxer from 2015 to 2022, including three appearances in notable promotion GLORY. He started pursuing MMA under the KSW banner two years ago and has found success ever since. He picked up his third pro victory in June of last year, submitting Bogdan Stoica in the first round with a forearm choke.
The challenge for Wrzosek this weekend will be steeper than the times before. While he previously fought talent that had just a few, if any bouts on their record, he’ll now take on a heavyweight who has fought as a pro for more than a decade.
Vitasovic will enter KSW this weekend on a strong six-fight winning streak, including four fights in Croatian promotion FNC. He has finished in 11 of his 12 pro wins and is currently on the best winning streak of his career.
As is the case for most KSW cards, there are interesting matchups all around the lineup. Former UFC talent Bartosz Fabinski will make his promotional debut in the co-main event, taking on Bellator alum Laid Zerhouni. Fabinski departed the UFC roster last year after a six-fight run for the promotion.
Here’s the lineup for KSW 90:
Main Card (1:00PM EST / 7:00PM CEST) (KSW PPV)
Bout 10: Arkadiusz Wrzosek (3-0) vs. Ivan Vitasovic (12-5-1) (Heavyweight)
Bout 9: Bartosz Fabinski (16-5) vs. Laid Zerhouni (11-8) (Middleweight)
Bout 8: Ewelina Wozniak (7-2) vs. Aleksandra Toncheva (5-4-1) (Strawweight)
Bout 7: Damian Stasiak (14-9) vs. Adam Soldaev (7-2) (Featherweight)
Bout 6: Islam Djabrailov (9-5) vs. Alfan Rocher-Labes (10-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 5: Werlleson Martins (18-5) vs. Oleksii Polischuck (11-4) (Bantamweight)
Bout 4: Isai Ramos (7-1) vs. Ramzan Jembiev (5-1) (Catchweight 161 lbs)
Bout 3: Marek Samociuk (4-4) vs. Olegs Jemeljanovs (11-4) (Heavyweight)
Bout 2: Gino van Steenis (4-0) vs. Hugo Deux (2-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 1: Szymon Karolczyk (5-3) vs. Artur Krawczyk (4-3) (Lightweight)
UFC 297: Strickland vs. Du Plessis
Correction: This article has been corrected to state that UFC has come to Canada recently, but not Toronto, Ontario.
In their more than 30 years of history, UFC has held a total of 32 events in Canada. However, the last time the U.S.-based promotion took a trip to the most populated city in the country — Toronto, Ontario — was more than five years ago.
That will change this weekend, as UFC 297 will take place from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The last time UFC was in Toronto was for UFC 231 in 2018.
UFC Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland will attempt to defend his belt for the first time in the main event, taking on rising contender Dricus Du Plessis. Strickland ended the reign of Israel Adesanya with a huge upset result last year, going the distance with him for a unanimous decision victory.
Strickland is going from a fight where he was the heavy underdog to a matchup where the odds are much more even. It’s a similar story for the challenger. Du Plessis enters the title shot on a six-fight winning streak in the UFC, including former champions Darren Till and Robert Whittaker. Du Plessis’ last win — a second round stoppage over Whittaker — was also seen as an upset.
The lead-up to the fight between Strickland and Du Plessis has been ugly. Strickland is always eager to be controversial and offensive, hurling verbal attacks at many of his opponents. But Du Plessis has responded with trash talk of his own that has opened discourse around what is or isn’t crossing a line for a fight build-up. Talk from both fighters has resulted in some nasty dust-ups, including a fight in the crowd at UFC 296 last month.
In the co-main event, Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva will aim to be the first to earn the UFC Bantamweight Championship after the conclusion of the Amanda Nunes era.
The bantamweight division was held on lockdown by Nunes for years, apart from a brief reign by Julianna Pena from 2021 to 2022. After defending her title against Irene Aldana last year, Nunes announced retirement and vacated her title. After the first decade of the women’s bantamweight division saw only five different names hold the title, a new fighter will finally step into the spotlight this weekend.
Pennington will be in her second title fight. She unsuccessfully challenged Nunes in 2018, getting stopped in the fifth round with strikes. “Rocky” enters this weekend with her best UFC run to date: five consecutive wins since 2020.
A series of wins and a recent hiccup brought Bueno Silva to this weekend’s co-main event. First, she put on a three-fight winning streak within a year’s time. She then scored a quick win over former champ Holly Holm in a 2023 UFC main event, although a drug test that detected ritalinic acid, a stimulant found in attention deficit disorder medication Ritalin, caused the bout to be overturned to a no contest.
The undercard for UFC 297 is a who’s who of Canadian talent on the roster currently. Veterans like Marc-Andre Barriault, Charles Jourdain, Brad Katona and Gillian Robertson are all expected to appear. The biggest spotlight will be on Mike Malott, who will look for his fourth UFC victory when he takes on veteran talent Neil Magny.
There will also be a high-level matchup at featherweight, as undefeated contender Movsar Evloev will meet Arnold Allen. Here’s a full look at the card:
Main Card (10:00PM EST) (PPV)
Bout 12: Sean Strickland (28-5) vs. Dricus Du Plessis (20-2) (UFC Middleweight Championship)
Bout 11: Raquel Pennington (15-8) vs. Mayra Bueno Silva (10-2-1) (Vacant UFC Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 10: Neil Magny (28-11) vs. Mike Malott (10-1-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 9: Chris Curtis (30-10) vs. Marc-Andre Barriault (16-6) (Middleweights)
Bout 8: Arnold Allen (19-2) vs. Movsar Evloev (17-0) (Featherweight)
Preliminary Card (8:00PM EST) (ESPNews / ESPN+)
Bout 7: Brad Katona (13-2) vs. Garrett Armfield (9-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Charles Jourdain (15-6-1) vs. Sean Woodson (10-1-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 5: Serhiy Sidey (10-1) vs. Ramon Taveras (9-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 4: Gillian Robertson (12-8) vs. Polyana Viana (13-6) (Strawweight)
Early Prelims (6:30PM EST) (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Bout 3: Yohan Lainesse (9-2) vs. Sam Patterson (10-2-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 2: Jasmine Jasudavicius (9-3) vs. Priscila Cachoeira (12-5) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Malcolm Gordon (14-7) vs. Jimmy Flick (16-7) (Flyweight)
Notes On: UFC
UFC newcomer Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady (15-3) will make his promotional debut on March 2nd against Loik Radzhabov (17-5-1), per Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie. Al-Selwady, a Fury FC and LFA vet, earned a UFC contract last year with a win over George Hardwick on “Dana White’s Contender Series.” Radzhabov, a two-time PFL season finalist, is coming off a second-round finish loss to Mateusz Rebecki.
Nursulton Ruziboev (35-8-2) will get his second UFC assignment on March 30th, taking on Sedriques Dumas (9-1), as first reported by Alex Behunin. Ruziboev won his UFC debut in July of last year with a 77-second finish of Brunno Ferreira. He’ll now meet Dumas, who is coming off a pair of decision wins from 2023.
Looking to bounce back from a unanimous decision loss that he took last year to Ludovit Klein, Ignacio Bahamondes (14-5) will go up against Christos Giagos (20-11). Giagos’ last appearance was a submission loss to Daniel Zellhuber. The matchup was confirmed by Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes.