Everything you need to know about the Polish MMA promotion, KSW

Founded in 2004, KSW is a Polish MMA promotion that has captured the hearts and eyes of the Polish public. Since its creation, it has steadily grown and continues to do so. Having said this, it is still far smaller than the likes of UFC, or even Bellator when looking at its global audience. Nonetheless, it’s quite rare for a fairly large MMA promotion to last for over 20 years. With this in mind, financially at least, it seems as though KSW is doing something right.

KSW stands for Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki in Polish, which translates to Martial Arts Confrontation in English. In other words, it is what it says it is. It was founded by Martin Lewandowski and Maciej Kawulski who can notoriously be quite tight-lipped when it comes to discussing the financial details and insider workings of KSW, nonetheless, it seems they’re on to a winner where owning an MMA promotion is concerned.

So, if you’d like to learn more about KSW then read on.

How much do KSW fighters make?

Unlike the likes of the UFC and Bellator, there’s very little information on how much KSW fighters get paid. However, there are a few indicators of how it works. According to some reports, Polish superstar Mariusz Pudzianowski earned roughly $70,000 for his first ever fight on the promotion. Depending on how you view this, this is good pay for the ex-strongman.

For instance, at this point he was still relatively unknown in the world of MMA, so he wouldn’t have commanded a great fee. On the other hand, he is a personality and helped sell the fights due to his sheer size. What is worth mentioning is that $70,000 goes much further in Poland than in the USA. Even by US standards, earning $70,000 for a singular fight would be well more than the average UFC fighter earns. However, living standards in Poland are far less expensive than in the US.

Is Pudzianowski the biggest earner in KSW?

It should be known that Pudzianowski probably earns far more than this these days though because he’s easily the biggest pull of the corporation. With this said, it’s fair to assume that the average KSW fighter earns far less than the likes of Pudzianowski. Another big earner in KSW would be Mamed Khalidov who is also a star, whilst the likes of Popek ‘Monster’ would have also commanded a high fee due to his freaky image and look.

So, the exact salary of your typical KSW fighter is not known, nor is it publicly available. In Bellator, the lowest pay a fighter gets is $10,000 per fight. However, it may be less than this in KSW as it is based in Poland and as mentioned previously, the average salary there is quite low compared to the US.

KSW offers fighter sponsorships on the body

In a unique twist, KSW offers fighters the ability to get sponsors painted on their bodies. In some cases, you can pay a fighter to cover their entire back which is probably the most expensive body part. This will certainly help generate a fighter more income and as a result, many KSW fighters do this, as well as painting their chest with sponsors.

One issue with this though, is that sometimes the paint wears off as a fight goes on. Imagine grappling on the ground and your back rubs off the artwork or getting punches which also does the same thing. Obviously, this is factored into the original pay structure, and fighters can also get sponsored to wear certain logos on their shorts too.

Overall, the KSW body sponsorships are pretty unusual and aren’t really seen in other promotions. This only adds to the colorful personality of KSW as an organization but it also brings up questions as to why other promotions don’t do similar gigs for their fighters.

How does KSW work?

Each MMA promotion has its own business model, and KSWs is based on few events, but making them as big as possible when they happen. For instance, in its earlier years – KSW would host 4 promotions per year (or once every quarter). This meant that unlike the likes of the UFC, KSW wasn’t really active that much or happening every couple of weeks.

This may have been due to a cautious approach by its owners, but it has slowly risen this number. Apparently, KSW aimed for 12 per year in 2022, but it’s not known as to whether this figure would be achieved due to Covid the year before. Regardless, it shows that things are on the right track and it looks like things are growing. For instance, KSW even hosted its 50th event in London in front of a sellout crowd.

Furthermore, in 2017 they did an event back in Poland which sold over 57,000 tickets – the second biggest MMA crowd in history after PRIDE. This shows that the company is doing well, but also that it has a real fanbase and can sell tickets. As well, in 2017 CEO Lewandowski claimed that it was watched by a national audience of 7.1 million which is impressive considering Poland’s population is around the 40 million mark.

It’s clear that Polish people love MMA and are happy to watch KSW. In this sense, it’s a success and after over 15 years it looks financially viable. As seen, it looks as though KSW are looking towards a bigger share of the international market, whilst doing so cautiously.

What is the culture like at KSW?

Moving away from the numbers, it looks as though KSW has modeled itself on PRIDE – which probably isn’t a bad thing. One example of this is its ‘freakshow’ element. Whilst other promotions such as UFC and Bellator have moved away from this, KSW embraces it and isn’t embarrassed to put on a show.

Just looking at the likes of Popek (with his tattooed eyeballs) shows that KSW is more than happy to put on a spectacle. It also has a tendency to favor bigger, heavier fighters and looks towards big knockout punches, rather than smaller, submission-based fighters. Arguably, this is what MMA fans pay to see though, and it seems to have worked for KSW.

On the subject of these bouts – there is one growing concern amongst KSW viewers though. This is because its stable of current talent has a shelf life that is close to expiration. As mentioned, Pudzianowski and Khalidov are the company’s biggest fighters, who are aged 45 and 41 respectively. Once these two retire, it may be difficult for KSW to replace them and its popularity may dwindle as a result. Still, it would be wrong to write KSW off, considering they began as a small, local promotion.

Lastly, another big part of the KSW culture is the gladiator-type-feel to its fights. Again, this was probably inspired by PRIDE. Here, there’s a lot of money spent on over-the-top entrances, light shows, and some pretty flamboyantly dressed pundits – which usually takes place in huge arenas. As a spectacle, it’s hard not to admire this throwback approach.

Why don’t fighters move from KSW to UFC?

Arguably, the top KSW fighters won’t move from KSW to UFC because they are paid well. One reason for this may be the body sponsorships which can arguably make them a lot of money – whereas UFC sponsorships aren’t as lucrative or open. If you think about it, if a live event is watched by millions of viewers, then the top fighters can command a decent wage, plus a good sponsorship deal. It’s not ludicrous to imagine that the likes of Khalidov gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per fight – and the competition is probably easier in terms of opponents compared to the UFC.

So, whilst the very top UFC fighters may earn more than the very top KSW fighters – there’s little reason for some of the fighters to go over to the UFC. Interestingly, in 2022 – KSW champion Roberto Soldic speculated moving to the UFC. However, it’s a tricky one for a fighter. Do you stay in a promotion where you’re comfortably the best and earn hundreds of thousands per fight, or do you risk more going to the UFC, where the skill of the fighters is significantly higher.

If you look at someone like Ben Askren for instance, he may have earned more at ONE FC before switching to the UFC. Here, his career was quickly ended and he may have earned no more at the UFC than in ONE. As for the lower tier fighters, the reason they don’t switch to the UFC is fairly simple, because they’re probably not good enough. Yet again, this points to a solid financial model being implemented at KSW.

Conclusion

Unlike the likes of ONE FC, it seems that KSW has a stable business model which is cautious, but has had success in slow but steady growth. It seems to have a very core fanbase in its homeland of Poland, whilst also trying to crack the international market which is notoriously tough. With this said, we may eventually see KSW as an MMA super power.

However, this will be difficult to achieve, and if it does happen it will take time. Still, it looks as though KSW is here to stay which should be welcomed as good news for MMA fans everywhere. If you like the PRIDE style ridiculousness of the MMA golden era, then KSW is well worth a watch and is very much enjoyable. Without sounding too critical, it could still make some improvements but that could be said for all MMA promotions.