LONDON – It wasn’t pretty, but Britain’s Phil De Fries made good on his promise to defend his KSW heavyweight title on home soil at KSW 50, grinding out a split-decision victory after five grueling rounds at the SSE Arena, Wembley. De Fries and Brazilian challenger Luis Henrique spent the large majority of the opening three rounds seemingly locked together in an endless clinch as they battled for grappling supremacy in a largely uneventful first half of the contest. With both men clearly fatigued from three rounds of grapple-heavy action, the two heavyweights turned to their striking in the fourth, but neither man’s strikes carried the power needed to make the breakthrough. It meant the bout went to the fifth and final round as De Fries, looking marginally the fresher man, pushed the pace in the final five minutes as the contest went all the way to the final bell. And when the judges’ scores were tallied, it was De Fries who ran out the victor via split decision as the Brit secured his third successive title defense. Narkun finishes Mysiala to retain 205-pound title There were more fireworks in the night’s co-main event, as reigning KSW light heavyweight champion Tomasz Narkun took his time, waited for his moment, then landed big to drop London-based Pole Przemyslaw Mysiala before finishing him with a tight guillotine choke as he retained his title in emphatic fashion
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