KSW's expansion continues this weekend as Europe's best European promotions land in Croatia. Now completely tied to the Polish market, the biggest room for growth has come internationally for the company. KSW 51 is an important milestone in the promotion as it is the only time in a row that has been performing outside of Polish history. Held Saturday night in Arena Zagreb, the event challenges one of the local's biggest bouts to challenge Antun & # 39; Killer & # 39; Racic to win gold in their home country.
Racic (23-8-1) is a veteran of the European field and competed across the continent before arriving at KSW two years ago. He has five victories to date. The 29-year-old explains this to the fact that he is currently in the right environment to promote his growth as a martial artist in one of the fastest rising and often unprecedented gyms in Europe.
"I've had the longest win at the moment, because I think I changed the team a few times ago," Racic said. “I'm training even harder with the UFD Gym, one of the best teams in Europe. We are headquartered in Dusseldorf, Germany and have a lot of great fighters including Roberto Soldic, Abus Magomedov, David Zawada and Martin Zawada. They helped make me a much better fighter and I grew up a lot. ”
"We also have one of the best boxing coaches, Suku Aksu and an amazing fighting coach at Leozada Nogueira," Racic said. “Our senior coach, Ivan Hippolyte, is highly regarded for teaching around the world. All the fighters here work hard 2-3 times a day and the coaches do all the hard work for us. ”
Training at the UFD gym gave Racic another good opportunity, opening the door for further development in his career. Firas Zahabi, one of the most respected MMA coaches in the world, lectured at a seminar in Dusseldorf, which was the first time he met. After that, Jah Harvey called the bantamweight to see if he wanted to go out and train at Tristar in Montreal, Canada, with fellow teammates and KSW welterweight champion Roberto Soldic. Up to KSW 51, also known as Killer, worked with some of the best fighters in the world, finishing the best of Germany for three weeks at Tristar for this battle camp. If Racic reflects this feeling without regularly adding variety to the body they work on, there is a risk that the game of mixed martial artists will become stagnant.
"This was my first visit to Tristar, but it's definitely a great team, so I will definitely go back," Racic explained. “They have amazing coaches and great players, especially on the bantamweight scale. I worked with Aiemann Zahabi, Zach Makovsky, Georges St-Pierre and Mirsad Bektic. Sometimes you need to change your sparring partner and Tristar is the best gym. It was a great experience for me because I improved a lot as a fighter. I hope they will be satisfied when they have done their best to show them a new look. ”
KSW 51 has a theme with the theme “The Balkans v Rest of the World”, which focuses on many of the promotions that lead to the show. The Balkans are small countries in Southeast Europe, including Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. Most support inside the stadium is aimed at players in your area. Racic is looking forward to taking the crowd to the side and hopes to provide a memorable atmosphere at the last stage of pursuing history.
"The MMA scene in Croatia is really big," Racic explained. “We have a huge star at Mirko Cro Cop and many other great fighters. Now one of the world's best MMA organizations is coming to the capital, which will only help the growth of the sport. Croatians love sports or fighting MMA, so we hope the stadium is filled with crazy crowds as they know how to support athletes. ”
Standing on Racic's road on a Saturday night is UFC veteran and Damian Stasiak (11-6), the most famous Polish bantamweight. After being released from UFC last year, Stasiak returned to the first round submission victory that led to the signing of KSW. He is a talented grappler who has won eight of 11 professional fights with submissions, an area where Racic can be said to be vulnerable. However, Racic was not lost due to submissions since 2015 and was undefeated at KSW. Support the challenge of top bantamweight in Poland. When Stasiak last competed at Arena Zagreb, he stopped Croatian Filip Pejic, so he would repeat that feat and silence the partisan crowd once again. Racic eagerly wants a chance to play against existing fighters, but he thinks he can retain his abilities every time the tournament is held.
"Damian Stasiak is a great warrior and is competing for the biggest promotion in the world," Racic said. “He is dangerous and has good standing skills, but his main strength is in land and wrestling. Nevertheless, I am not afraid to fight him in any position. He is a submission expert but this is the area I learned a lot. I lost a bit of a fight by submission but some of them came to weight division that was too big for me. I had a bit of a match in lightness and that's why I lost because those guys were stronger than me. In all defeats I gained the result of growing up as a fighter and as a result improved my ground game in some way. Damian doesn't seem to have a chance to end me. "
When the pair meets, the KSW Bantamweight title starts with the addition of the title of the seventh weight class to the promotion. They've been making fun of the belt at 135 pounds over the past year, but Racic's winning streak is the perfect time to introduce gold, combining it with Stasiak's credentials and the highest standards. This is the moment Racic thinks his career is developing and will do his best to ensure that this opportunity does not get in the way.
Racic says, “It's a dream to win a KSW bantamweight title. “I put a lot of effort into this moment and I won four fights in the promotion. I beat all the fighters that KSW gave me. So I deserve this title shot. I am very excited about this fight and hope to win. I want to be the first player to beat Stasiak and become a KSW bantamweight champion! ”
KSW 51 can be purchased from kswtv.com Starts at 6pm GMT on Saturday. US fans can purchase the event at 1 pmET / 12c on the same website.