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MMA Fighter Slumps Undefeated Opponent with Wild KO Flurry at KSW 101

KSW closed out its 2024 schedule with a finish-heavy card in France.

Drew Beaupre

(KSW)

The final KSW card of the year featured a number of incredible finishes, but perhaps none was as violent as in the middleweight matchup between Laïd Zerhouni and Alain Van De Merckt.

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Poland’s KSW had a busy year and already has two events lined up for early 2025, and this weekend the promotion traveled to Naterre, France to close out 2024 with KSW 101: Le Classique, headlined by a lightweight title bout between reigning champion Salahdine Parnasse and his countryman Wilson Varela.

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The event featured at least one French fighter in every matchup, and things got off to a strong start with three-straight finishes to open the night and stoppages in five out of the card's first seven fights overall.

Michkael Lebout went the distance against Romain Debienne in an all-French main card matchup immediately before Zerhouni and Van De Merckt entered the cage, and in that middleweight fight the Naterre crowd was once again treated to a finish less than two minutes into the opening round.

A huge flurry of punches from Zerhouni forced Van De Merckt to go on the retreat against the fence, but “Top Boy” was unable to escape his opponent and continued eating massive shots until a left hand sent him slumping to the canvas.

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The result was the first loss of Van De Merckt’s professional career, and it also came in his promotional debut for KSW. The former Levels Fight League champion was set to compete for a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in October but was forced to withdraw from a matchup with Heraldo Souza.

Zerhouni’s violent performance allowed the 29-year-old to end the year with a win after being stopped in a Fight of the Night-winning matchup with Radosław Paczuski in September, and the final two bouts of KSW 101 also featured a submission-win from Marcin Held in the co-main event and a second-round TKO from Parnasse in his headlining title fight.

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Drew Beaupre
DREW BEAUPRE

Drew is an MMA writer that regularly watches regional events in addition to major promotions such as the UFC, PFL, Bellator, and ONE Championship. He joined MMA Knockout when it was founded in 2023.

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