KSW’s CEO is ‘always looking’ to co-promote events

Martin Lewandowski | KSW

The organization have collaborated with Rizin and PFL in the past but are looking to extend their network of relationships even further in the future.

The ongoing global pandemic has been a source of disruption for MMA promotions around the world. Many have had to shut down their events and adapt their standard business operations to adjust to the new ‘normal.’ However, KSW are leaning on one particular strategy, which they believe will pay off moving forwards: cross promotion.

Last week, the European company announced that they had struck an agreement with Czech-Slovak organisation, Oktagon MMA—to share the services of lightweight champion, Mateusz Legierski. He is due to make his KSW debut over the coming months. And if it were up to CEO Martin Lewandowski, similar signings would follow. However, it takes two sides with overlapping interests to make a deal like that. Something that isn’t always easy to find in the world of combat sports.

Due to travel restrictions in place in many nations around the world as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, it’s more difficult than ever for fighters to compete for promoters outside their home country. It’s a reality that could majorly impact everyone's fight booking decisions. Lewandowski hopes that means promoters are re-thinking their business approaches and, as a result, that the future MMA landscape will lend itself to cross promotion more regularly.

“One strategy for us was to look at who is available right now in Poland and one such fighter was Mateusz Legierski,” Lewandowski told Bloody Elbow. “His manager arranged the deal and I am actually happy that we will have a partnership with Oktagon MMA over him. It is better when everyone tries to find a beneficial solution for all parties, but I am realistic. Very often it is just impossible, because we all are working in the same market. When it comes to booking fights for Legierski, ourselves and Oktagon MMA will communicate properly and it won’t be an issue. He is their champion, he represents their promotion and we respect this—just now he is also part of the KSW family.”

“I am always looking to work with other promotions,” continued Lewandowski. “In the past we have collaborated with RIZIN and PFL, and most recently we nearly had an arrangement with Combate Americas. I approached Bellator many times, but they seem to not be interested—even if I offered them our Champion vs their Champion bout. And the ‘funny’ thing is, I know these guys the best in the industry. Sometimes it happens this way. All promotions have plans for their fighters. We also invest a lot of money, time, focus, attention and resources into certain fighters. So in these cases, you must respect when a promotion doesn’t want to share talent. At the end of the day we are all running our own businesses.”

KSW also recently announced the signing of simultaneous, two-weight FEN champion, Andrzej Grzebyk—a signign Lewandowski admitted he is really pleased about. He believes Grzebyk is one of the best talents in Europe right now and could make a huge impact in KSW. The deal that brough Grzebyk to the promotion was another example of cooperation between organizations (although, in this case, Lewandowski acknowledges that the move was made easier due to an ‘uncertain situation’ between the fighter and FEN). After some discussion, all three parties came to an agreement that also resulted in KSW releasing former UFC fighter, Oli Thompson to compete for FEN.

Through the first half of the year, it seems likely that every MMA promotion has found themselves taking a significant financial hit. It’s the kind of climate that could make companies more inclined to book the biggest fights possible as soon as they can, to make up for lost income. But KSW feels its much more important to try and play things slow. There’s no reason to rush back to business with stacked fight cards.

“We are not filling all of the upcoming cards with superstars because it would be silly of us due to the lack of ticket sales.”

“We are not filling all of the upcoming cards with superstars because it would be silly of us due to the lack of ticket sales—we do 10,000+ almost every event, this is a big loss in revenue,” explained Lewandowski. “So our approach is systematic and calculated, like how we grew the entire company, step by step. It would be juvenile of us to try to make up for lost time this year, we can’t change the past but we are in control of our decisions moving forward.”

“I think every promotion has to be clever starting back,” he continued. “It is hard to gauge what the public’s perception of mass gathered events, such as concerts and sporting events. As it was announced this week, we will have our first event since the pandemic hit the world. It will be a studio-only event, with no public and limited personnel on July 11. This event will feature big fights like Norman Parke vs. Mateusz Gamrot III, and an all-Polish clash between two of the nation’s most beloved stars Marcin Wrzosek vs. Borys Mankowski. And for this event we are offering a reduced PPV price. In short, we are offering a very good event at a reduced viewing cost.”

As different businesses attempt to get events up and running again, their efforts will likely come with a lot of scrutiny—to ensure that the risk of catching/spreading COVID-19 is mitigated as much as possible. Lewandowski told Bloody Elbow that KSW are working to make sure every show is “as safe as humanly possible” and within government guidelines. There will be a reduced number of staff working events, and a separate department of qualified medical personnel are preparing regulations for the promotion to follow. Every athlete fighting on a show will be tested a few weeks prior to an event, as well as the day before their bout—although information about exactly which tests would be administered wasn’t immediately available. For the upcoming KSW 53 card, Norman Parke (who is the only non-Polish fighter competing) has already travelled to the country, so he can quarantine weeks before the card if needed.

KSW was set to return to Croatia and England once again this year, but COVID-19 has put “a temporary halt” to those plans. However, promotion’s continued expansion into Europe is certainly one of their main goals for the near future.

Also of note, one of the organization’s most notable fighters, KSW middleweight champion Scott Askham, mentioned recently that he would be interested in moving up to light heavyweight for a fight with title holder Tomasz Narkun. With no clear number one contender in either division, it seems like this would be the perfect time to book a meeting between the pair. But it doesn’t sound like Lewandowski is rushing the process.

“Plans are changing by the day,” stated Lewandowski. “But this is a fight both men have made it known they want, it is something we’ve looked at and continue to do so. Right now though, I cannot say it will happen. But of course, this is one of the options we are considering. If the fans want to see a particular fight and it makes sense for us then why not?”

At the moment, it seems each day brings new difficulties and obstacles to overcome. However, with challenges come opportunities. And it’s those opportunities that Lewandowski is focusing on, to keep one of MMA’s premiere European promotions moving forwards.