KSW 18 Gets Le Banner-Rozalski Heavyweight Main Event

Jerome Le Banner will headline KSW 18. | Photo: Taro Irei

The promotion first announced the matchup on Tuesday, and on Thursday Le Banner confirmed it on his website.

A formidable kickboxing presence in K-1 for over a decade, Le Banner last competed in mixed martial arts on New Year’s Eve in 2010, dropping a unanimous decision to Satoshi Ishii. The 39-year-old Frenchman is 3-2 in MMA bouts since 2001, including knockout victories against Yoshihiro Akiyama, Alan Karaev and Jimmy Ambriz. A veteran of 59 K-1 fights, Le Banner owns notable wins over Mark Hunt, Peter Aets, Ernesto Hoost and Mushashi in that sport.

Rozalski competed twice under the KSW banner in 2011, besting Marcin Bartkiewicz via second-round doctor stoppage in March and beating Sergey Shemetov by first-round technical knockout in May.

Scheduled to take place at the Orlen Arena in Plock, Poland, KSW 18 is also expected to include two more heavyweight bouts, as Szczecin, Poland's Karol Bedorf will take on Chicago’s David Oliva, while Warsaw’s Kamil Walus will lock horns with Kamil Bazelak.