Bartosinski hopes for UFC move soon, open to Khalidov rematch before KSW exit

Adrian Bartosinski wants to leave KSW for the UFC, but he is not sure the promotion would let its welterweight champion go. He said so in a Q&A on his YouTube channel, where he joked that he had hoped the question would not come up.

He stayed diplomatic. He said he is very comfortable in KSW, that the promotion could pay more but he has nothing to complain about, and that it helped build his profile and gave him the platform to move to a bigger stage. Asked directly, he said he hopes the move comes soon. On release, he was less certain: "I would like to, but I don't know if it will happen. I don't know if they will let me go." (translated)

Nothing concrete has been disclosed. He offered no information on talks with the UFC and no timeline, so a transfer remains a goal, not a plan. MMA.pl reports he appears to have two fights left in KSW, and that winning both would clear his path to the UFC.

The first is already booked. Bartosinski, 30, defends the title against Tymoteusz Lopaczyk at KSW 123 in Szczecin, a challenger MMA.pl describes as having earned his shot.

There is also unfinished business. His only pro loss came at KSW 100, where he moved up to middleweight for a superfight with Mamed Khalidov and was submitted in round two after a good first round. In the same Q&A he was asked who he would match Khalidov with. He pointed to an unnamed fighter in Lodz who he thinks would take the fight, without giving a name. Khalidov is not booked for December.

MMA.pl argues a rematch could solve a problem for KSW, since Khalidov has few obvious opponents. A fight with Jan Blachowicz is complicated by Blachowicz's UFC contract. All of this is speculation for now. The next step is KSW 123, and what Bartosinski says about his future after it.