FIGHT ANNOUNCED KSW 124: Haratyk drops to middleweight vs. Vrtačić; Soldaev-Deux, Polishchuk-Kaouchen set

KSW 124 on Dec. 19 at PreZero Arena in Gliwice now has a deep undercard around its main event, where middleweight champion Paweł Pawlak defends against interim champion Piotr Kuberski. Four ranked fights have been added, and several put contenders in awkward spots.

The biggest move is Rafał Haratyk's drop in weight. The former light heavyweight champion lost the belt to Bartosz Leśko by unanimous decision at KSW 120 in July and now faces fourth-ranked Andi Vrtačić at middleweight. All of Haratyk's KSW fights have been at light heavyweight, though he competed at middleweight before joining the promotion. He is 39. Vrtačić, a Croatian with a kickboxing background, has won three straight, all by stoppage, including a first-round finish of Albert Odzimkowski in April. His only KSW loss came against Michał Michalski in August 2025. Fight Site Croatia reports he had asked sporting director Wojsław Rysiewski for a top-three opponent and instead got a former champion from the division above.

At lightweight, Adam Soldaev meets Hugo Deux. Soldaev, a former featherweight title challenger, moved up partly because of trouble making weight, and he missed the lightweight limit by more than a kilogram before knocking out Mateusz Makarowski in round one on Oct. 10. He now says the matchup is a punishment. Speaking to InTheCage, he said Rysiewski told him the bout was a penalty and that he had been promised a title fight after Makarowski. He added that he could have declined. Deux, a Warsaw-based Frenchman with a judo background, stopped Welisson Paiva with elbows in April and has won four straight.

Some Polish outlets framed the fight as a possible title eliminator, but KSW's announcement attached no such label. The vacant lightweight belt goes to the winner of Valeriu Mircea vs. Marcin Held at KSW 123 on Nov. 21, and both are ranked above Soldaev.

In the welterweight bout, unbeaten Dawid Kuczmarski faces grappler Adam Niedźwiedź, who has won nine of his 11 victories by submission. Kuczmarski told InTheCage that KSW skipped other contenders by offering Adam Masaev an immediate title shot; that fight against champion Adrian Bartosiński fell through and Tymoteusz Łopaczyk took Masaev's place. Kuczmarski expects his own path to a title to shorten if Bartosiński keeps the belt.

The card is still filling in. Souheil Kaouchen, previously without an opponent, now meets Polishchuk at featherweight, and Štefan Vojčák vs. Artur Szpilka for the interim heavyweight title is also on the bill.

 

[MMA-TV Newsroom]

With Haratyk returning to middleweight to face Vrtačić at KSW 124, does this fight deserve more attention than the Pawlak vs. Kuberski title main event?