Aussie heavyweight combat sports veteran Peter Graham (10-9) made his return to Poland on Sunday morning (Australia time) and was handed a unanimous decision loss against 31 year-old KSW heavyweight champ Karol Bedorf (12-2).
KSW 31 took place at the Ergo Arena in Gdańsk Poland and was streamed live via the promotion’s website. In the main event, middleweight champion Michal Materla (22-4) stopped Tomasz Drwal (21-5-1) with punches in the third round to defend the title. Graham vs Bedorf was deemed a non-title fight by KSW following Graham’s previous loss outside the promotion in April.
Graham, 39, was taken down throughout the three-round affair, with Bedorf eager to avoid the former K-1 champion’s striking pedigree. The Aussie, however, punished the local favorite with strikes early on in the final chapter, but Bedorf regained his composure and finished the fight strong with ground-and-pound from mount.
Sherdog has play-by-play of the encounter:
Bedorf runs Graham into the cage, gets in on a single and dumps the K-1 veteran on the mat. Bedorf sits in half guard, his forearm driving into the throat of Graham as he tries to set up a guard pass. Bedorf continues to crossface Graham hard while pounding to the ribs. Graham doesn’t have much off of his back as Bedorf targets a kimura on his left arm while passing guard. Graham gets his arm free and regains half guard. Bedorf lands hammerfists upstairs and more punches to the body. Bedorf pins Graham’s right arm with his knee, landing more left hands. Bedorf keeps on his grind until the bell rings. Sherdog.com scores the round 10-9 Bedorf.
ROUND 2:
Bedorf quickly shoots, but Graham shuts it down. Graham active with his leg kicks now, then rocks Bedorf with a nifty right uppercut. Graham smells blood, so he pounces, punching with both hands, but it only gives Bedorf an opportunity for a takedown, which he consummates. Bedorf back on top in half guard, smothering Graham until the Australian gets lazy, giving up an easy pass to full mount. Bedorf doesn’t land much punishment before Graham replaces guard and escapes danger. As Bedorf gets to work back in half guard, referee Piotr Michalak stands the pair up. It doesn’t matter much, though, as Bedorf puts Graham right back on the fence, sucks his legs out then moves to north-south position with 90 seconds to go in the round. Bedorf goes to side control and tries to step over into a top crucifix, but Graham snakes his arm out. Bedorf moves back into full mount with just over 10 seconds in the round, but nothing comes of it. It’s 10-9 Bedorf, again.
ROUND 3:
Knowing he’s behind, Graham opens up with a leg kick, then three hooks. Another hard right hook and leg kick lands, and Bedorf wants none of it. Graham chases him down, forcing Bedorf into an ugly shot, which Graham defends. Graham forces Bedorf to turtle, unloading with massive right hands, and now lefts. Bedorf rolls forward into a takedown, clinging to Graham’s right leg as Graham smashes on his head. Bedorf turns him over and completes the takedown into side control. Bedorf chips away with ground-and-pound before moving back into full mount. With two minutes to go in the fight, Bedorf creeps his mount up higher, seeking to punish Graham, but Graham shrimps and thwarts it. Bedorf remains heavy on top, but isn’t punching much. Graham’s stuck on the bottom and can’t buck the robust Bedorf off of him. Bedorf grinds away with more short punches, then sits up and throws lukewarm hammerfists for the last 10 seconds. It’s 10-9 Bedorf again, for a 30-27 sweep on the Sherdog.com scorecard.
‘The Chief’ suffers his second consecutive defeat with the result, after submitting to Denis Goltsov at Russia’s Tech-Krep FC event in April. Bedorf extends his winning run to six with the victory, in what was his tenth appearance for the promotion.
Meanwhile, in the co-main event, five-time world’s strongest man title winner Mariusz Pudzianowski stopped Rolles Gracie in just 27 seconds after landing a monster right hand, dropping Gracie before sealing the deal with bombs on the canvas.
Results (via Sherdog):
- Michal Materla def Tomasz Drwal via TKO (Strikes), Rd 3, 4:56
- Mariusz Pudzianowski def Rolles Gracie via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1, 0:27
- Karol Bedorf def Peter Graham via Decision (Unanimous), (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Goran Reljic def Attila Vegh via Decision (Split), (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Kamil Szymuszowski def Maciej Jewtuszko via Decision (Unanimous), (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Aziz Karaoglu def Jay Silva via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1, 1:34
- Tomasz Narkun def Karol Celinski via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 2:17
- Grzegorz Szulakowski def Patryk Grudniewski via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 3:38
- Jedrzej Mackowlak def Marcin Gulas via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 4:57