Vitalii Yakymenko defends KSW belt against Marcello Morelli — Interia Sport

Ukrainian fighter Vitalii Yakymenko defended the KSW bantamweight title, in the up to 61.2 kg division, by defeating Venezuelan Marcello Morelli at the XTB KSW 122 tournament in Rzeszów, Poland. In the fifth round, Yakymenko applied a kneebar, after which his opponent submitted. This was reported by Interia Sport.

The fight lasted until the fifth round

Yakymenko started the bout actively and attacked Morelli in the first round, leaving him stunned for some time. The fight moved to the ground, where the Venezuelan had to defend himself against the champion's strikes.

In the second round, Morelli began working more accurately while standing and landed several precise strikes on Yakymenko, but he was unable to finish the bout early. At the end of the third five-minute round, the Ukrainian struck his opponent in the face, after which Morelli began bleeding. In the fourth round, Yakymenko took the fight to the ground and seized the initiative.

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First title defense

This was Yakymenko's first defense of the KSW championship belt. Several months earlier, he had taken the title from Poland's Sebastian Przybysz. Before the fight against Morelli, the Ukrainian's record stood at 11 wins and two losses, while the Venezuelan had eight wins and four losses.

In other bouts on the tournament's main card, Andrzej Grzebyk defeated Laid Zerhouni by a majority of the judges' votes, Adam Soldaev knocked out Mateusz Makarowski, and Wilson Varela forced Marian Ziółkowski to submit in the first round with an armbar.