Philip De Fries has given fans an insight into what the heavyweight wants next.
“On my honour, I will shoot no takedowns.” KSW’s reigning heavyweight champion, Philip De Fries, is tired of waiting for contenders to emerge. Instead, he has taken to Facebook to call the shots on what many assume to be his next move.
Philip De Fries vs Mariusz Pudziankowski?
Philip De Fries (21-6-0 MMA, 7-0 KSW) has taken to Facebook to call for his next fight. In his mind, the rightful challenger to the throne is Mariusz Pudziankowski (17-7-0 MMA, 17-7-0 KSW). Pudziankowski is currently riding a five-fight winning streak, most recently knocking off Michal Materla at KSW 70.
De Fries is a former UFC heavyweight who has taken KSW by storm ever since his arrival at KSW 43, where he claimed their vacant heavyweight title. Since then, he has defended the strap successfully six times and is now looking for a seventh against Pudziankowski.
The former World’s Strongest Man winner has instead eyed a matchup with Mamed Khalidov in his next outing. However, that bout has not yet materialised, and a championship fight may be on his horizon.
The Champion’s History
Philip De Fries is a heavyweight training out of TFT MMA in the North East of England, coached by Andrew Fisher. He has shared a mat with the likes of Mick Parkin, Paul Craig and Tom Aspinall, to name a couple.
After going undefeated in his early career, De Fries first faced real adversity upon his arrival in the UFC. A true warrior through and through, De Fries pushed on even following his release from the company where he faced some of the toughest heavyweights in the world.
After an appearance on RCC Boxing Promotions in 2017, he finally settled for his new promotion in Poland where he has never looked back. De Fries looks to be in the prime of his career and deservedly so.
In his post on Facebook, the champion declared his respect for Pudziankowski, but also his love for a payday. If this is the fight that would make both fighters the most money, nobody can really argue with it. Reigning champion against a streaking contender with 60,000 stadium shows lined up? That right there is a needle mover.
Will we see this fight? De Fries wants it, it is now down to Pudziankowski and the KSW matchmakers to agree or disagree with the Sunderland man’s logic.
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Featured image credits to KSW and Real News
