Robert
Ruchala now has some meaningful hardware with which to validate
his pristine resume.
The unbeaten Polish prospect walked away with the interim
Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki featherweight championship, as he stopped
Lom-Ali
Eskiev with a burst of elbows in the fifth round of their
KSW
80 headliner on Saturday at RSC Hall in Lubin, Poland. Eskiev
(20-7, 1-3 KSW) succumbed to blows 4:30 into Round 5.
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Ruchala (8-0, 5-0 KSW) overcame a rough start—Eskiev dropped him
with an overhand right, then gave chase with follow-up punches in
the first round—and settled into a comfortable cruising speed. He
spent much of his time building a lead behind a stiff jab and kicks
to the body and legs. Ruchala saved his best efforts for the fifth
round. There, he took down Eskiev roughly 90 seconds into the
period, moved to the back and hunted a rear-naked choke before
turning to his ground-and-pound. Ruchala forced his opponent into a
defensive shell, cut off avenues for escape and let fly with elbows
until the job was done.
The 24-year-old Ruchala will now serve as a placeholder at 145
pounds while reigning champion Salahdine
Parnasse pursues opportunities in the lightweight division.
Meanwhile, Team Renegade’s Tom Breese
rebounded from a Nov. 12 technical knockout loss to Pawel
Pawlak, as he dispatched Bartosz
Lesko with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their
middleweight co-main event. Breese (16-4, 2-1 KSW) drew the curtain
2:45 into Round 1.
Lesko (12-3-2, 1-1 KSW) executed a takedown and landed in side
control roughly a minute into the match, only to be swept soon
after. Breese applied some ground-and-pound from half guard,
climbed to full mount and eventually progressed to the back. He
flattened out Lesko for a brief moment, then turned his attention
to the choke. Breese calmly snaked his arms in place and forced the
tapout, authoring the eighth first-round finish of his career.
The 31-year-old Breese has won four of his past five bouts.
Elsewhere, Bulgarian Top Team prospect Oumar Sy kept
his perfect professional record intact and did so in scintillating
fashion, as he submitted Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran
Henrique
da Silva with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their
light heavyweight showcase. Da Silva (19-9, 1-1 KSW) checked out
1:40 into Round 1.
Sy (8-0, 3-0 KSW) struck for a takedown inside the first 30
seconds, transitioned to the back and secured his position with a
body triangle. Da Silva acknowledged a warning from the referee for
a head butt and left his neck exposed in the process. The
opportunistic Sy locked his arms in place, tightened his squeeze
and prompted the tapout.
The setback snapped a three-fight winning streak for the resurgent
da Silva.
In other action, Michal
Michalski (10-5, 4-3 KSW) disposed of Erikas
Golubovskis (7-2-1, 0-1 KSW) with a volley of elbows 2:43 into
the first round of their welterweight confrontation; Yasmin
Guimaraes (5-1, 1-0 KSW) was awarded a unanimous verdict over
Emilia
Czerwinska (2-1, 2-1 KSW) in a three round women’s flyweight
contest, earning 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 marks on the scorecards;
Daniel
Tarchila (5-1, 0-0 KSW) pocketed a unanimous decision over
Wojciech
Kazieczko (3-1, 2-1 KSW), drawing 29-28, 29-28 and 30-26 scores
from the cageside judges; Damian
Piwowarczyk (6-2, 3-2 KSW) buried Bartlomiej
Gladkowicz (8-4, 0-2 KSW) with punches 2:40 into the first
round of their light heavyweight encounter; Kacper
Koziorzebski (9-5, 3-3 KSW) claimed a split decision—29-28,
28-29, 29-28—over Borys
Borkowski (4-2, 1-2 KSW) in a three-round welterweight affair;
Kamil
Szkaradek (4-0, 2-0 KSW) took care of Patryk
Chrobak (2-3, 0-2 KSW) with a rear-naked choke 2:22 into the
first round of their clash at a 139-pound catchweight; and Andi
Vrtacic (4-1, 1-0 KSW) punched out Mateusz
Janur (6-6, 0-1 KSW) and pushed him back to the .500 mark 4:59
into the second round of their middleweight confrontation.