KSW 41 Gets New Main Event Following Dricus Du Plessis Injury

KSW welterweight champion Borys Mankowski will no longer take on Dricus Du Plessis at KSW 41 on Dec. 23 following an injury to the two-weight EFC champion.

The news was announced this morning on social media by KSW. Croatian fighter Roberto Soldic will step in as a late replacement to take on Mankowski in Katowice, Poland.

Du Plessis posted the following message on his Facebook page today addressing the news:

“Absolutely gutted! a bit lost for words right now all I can say is I’m very sorry to everyone who supported me and who really wanted to see this fight. statement and information on the injury coming soon.”

Du Plessis’ replacement, Soldic, is 12-2 as a professional and is currently coming off the back of the biggest win of his career against Lewis Long at Cage Warriors 87. Soldic won the fight after just 40-seconds of the first round when he landed s beautiful head kick that sent Long face first to the mat.

Soldic now has the opportunity of a lifetime to beat Mankowski and claim the KSW welterweight title. The Polish champion won the title back in 2014 when he defeated Aslambek Saidov at KSW 27. He’s since defended the title three times and was the main event at KSW’s record-breaking Colosseum show earlier this year when he fought KSW middleweight champion Mamed Khalidov in front of 58,000 people in Warsaw.

Following the announcement today, the KSW 41 fight card is now as follows:

Borys Ma?kowski vs. Roberto Soldic – KSW welterweight title
Pawe? Rak vs. T. O?wieci?ski
Artur Sowi?ski vs. K. Koike Erbst – KSW featherweight title
Marcin Wrzosek vs. Roman Szyma?ski
Damian Janikowski vs. A. Chmielewski
G. Szulakowski vs. K. Szymuszowski
Micha? Andryszak vs. F. Rodrigues Jr.
Maciej Kazieczko vs. G. Szadzi?ski
?ukasz Rajewski vs. S. Parnasse