KSW CEO Looking at 2017 Shows in UK, Ireland

KSW CEO Looking at 2017 Shows in UK, Ireland

KSW CEO and owner Martin Lewandowski is looking to expand the Polish MMA promotion's reach in 2017.

Dec 5, 2016 by Jim Edwards
KSW CEO Looking at 2017 Shows in UK, Ireland
After putting on a tremendous show in Krakow, Poland, this past weekend, the question was asked: How does KSW top the spectacle of KSW 37: Circus of Pain?

Well, speaking just hours after the show on Saturday night, KSW CEO and owner Martin Lewandowski spoke to Forbes.pl and revealed some exciting future plans for the Polish mixed martial arts organization.

"In our market, we have achieved a certain buoyancy," Lewandowski said. "We fill the greatest venues and have achieved record sales and pay-per-view. Seventeen thousand tickets were sold for the last show in Krakow in just three days.

"We are already the biggest in Europe, so now we have to go beyond Poland. We want to go to foreign countries to do the same shows we are doing in our own country -- four per year."

When asked where KSW might be heading, Lewandowski suggested two countries, one of which it has been to previously.

"At this stage, primarily in the UK and Ireland," Lewandowski said.

The KSW owner also suggested the promotion would consider investment or joint ownership from a third party to make it a more feasible move.

"Increasingly, we consider the acquisition of an investor or the creation of a joint venture, because we want to go out in the world right at a very high level,"Lewandowski said. "We want to build in 2-3 years abroad, what we built in 10 years in Poland.

"If we are going to do this, we will perhaps might need some extra acceleration."

Speaking about his future plans for Polish mixed martial arts, Lewandowski addressed the need for a Polish version of the newly established Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association.

"I want to create the Polish Association of MMA," Lewandowski said. "I realize that comes with this challenge, but it is something that our sport needs. Such an institution should not focus on organizing shows but on the development of the sport.

"Already a few years ago, I began to organize camps and created an amateur MMA league, and now I'm talking with all the major organizations in the world with the creation of a common program.

"We should teach young people that they can begin and end their careers in MMA."