Khalidov Vs. Narkun: A Champ Vs. Champ Superfight

Mamed Khalidov has spent half a decade atop those lists of “Fighters Who Should Be in the UFC.” Khalidov has been a fixture on KSW’s cards since 2008 and now that business is booming for the Polish promotion, Khalidov has fallen into the strangest position of his career. "The Cannibal" is KSW’s middleweight champion and finds himself at 37 years old taking fights built around the simple hypothesis of “What can we have Mamed do?”

That’s not a bad thing. Khalidov still defends his title against Polish fighters you haven’t heard of, but they’re trying to give these fights a bigger feel. In his last match, Khalidov met KSW’s reigning welterweight champion Borys Mankowski in a champ vs. champ bout. Khalidov cruised to a decision victory, but his next bout takes that idea and carries it on to its logical conclusion: if Khalidov is the best thing going in KSW, why not have him fight the light heavyweight champion?

The light heavyweight in question is Tomasz Narkun. Just twenty-eight years old, Narkun is entering his prime as Khalidov is well into the later days of his career. The bout is going to be fought at a catchweight of 198 pounds but Narkun is bigger than Khalidov, younger than Khalidov, and is a wicked grappler to boot.

The Cannibal

It’s no secret why KSW love Khalidov: he is the kind of fighter you want to build your shows around. He’s explosive, and spins a lot, and built his last title defense around the axe kick seemingly on a whim. But aside from all that he is maddeningly inconsistent and often fights in ways that make you wonder how he doesn’t end up on the losing end of decisions more often. During his fight with Mankowski, he would throw himself out of position and as Mankowski came back he would be sent stumbling or barrel roll onto the floor. Watching it live it looked disastrous, watching it back on the replay it became clear that Khalidov wasn’t actually caught by many of the punches, but judges don’t have the benefit of slow motion replay and flopping to the floor under fire hasn’t helped very many fighters.

What Khalidov does have is a slick kicking game and a big right hand. And those two play into each other nicely. Take, for instance, the fight in which he won the KSW middleweight title. He went to his bladed stance, showed his intention to spin for a back kick, and then cracked his man with a right hand instead. A simple set up but, like many of Andy Hug’s weird set ups, it only works if the guy knows you’re willing to do the weird thing that you’re feinting.

Khalidov is also a force of nature when he senses he has his man hurt. Luke Barnatt had racked up four wins on the trot since leaving the UFC, and was always a decently composed, thoughtful striker. Khalidov cracked him with a right hand in the opening seconds and as soon as Barnatt made a tell-tale stumble, Khalidov was on him and finishing the TKO.

But some nights Khalidov will just come out and behave bizarrely. Against the unheralded 8-6 Aziz Karaoglu, Khalidov was awkward on the feet, ate unnecessary punches, and flopped to the floor time and time again, pursuing a grappling match with someone he was reckoned to be leagues ahead of on the feet. Khalidov won a majority decision over and plenty of fans were convinced he didn’t deserve it. It was almost fortunate for Khalidov that Karaoglu’s choice to enter to the apparently official "Al Quaeda theme music" was noticed by press and Karaoglu was sent packing from KSW with no prospect of a rematch. Karaoglu hasn’t fought since.

The Giraffe

Tomasz Narkuns is a grappler but not in the tedious sense. More a grappler in the Street Fighter sense—leaping on strange armbars in immediate movements—than a grappler in the systematic Demian Maia sense. He is constantly hunting for a finish rather than positional advancement. There’s a touch of Liam McGeary in him as he throws up armbars and triangles from his back, often being stacked or rolled over his shoulders only to scramble back to guard and try it again. What Narkun has that McGeary doesn’t is a slick elbow game from the bottom—something we also discuss in our Tactical Guide to Brian Ortega Vs. Frankie Edgar.

Narkun has a decent single leg, works well from the head outside position and uses combinations effectively, chaining his takedowns to wind up on top. But takedowns certainly aren’t his bread and butter, and he doesn’t use them as often as you would hope to see from a man with that many submissions on his record.

As far as striking goes, Narkun is still very much a rough product. He stands and moves well, but when he is under fire he will often just duck or cover up, eschewing or perhaps not recognizing the opportunities to counter punch. The one occasion that he did counter punch effectively was in his rematch with Goran Reljic, wherein he knocked Reljic out.

For the most part, however, his boxing is an afterthought. Much of Narkun’s best work on the feet is done with front snap kicks and push kicks to the midsection, and a sharp step-up inside low kick which rarely goes on to set up the right hand which is often begging to be thrown afterwards.

Narkun has also shown himself to be very willing to foul. Against the ghost of Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Narkun repeatedly grabbed Sokoudjou by the braids in order to stiff arm him away from guard, and in order to hold him in place for uppercuts for the finish. When Sokoudjou complained to the ref, Narkun tried to illegally upkick him while the referee was talking.

And illegal upkicks are all too common in Narkun’s fights as well. Cassio Barbosa de Oliveira ate an illegal one on the knees which stopped the contest momentarily. But as a former training partner of Gegard Mousasi, upkicking is as much a part of Narkun’s game as you would expect. Oliveira stood over Narkun’s guard a little too long and found himself stunned by legal upkicks before being kneed for a TKO.

He throws in the odd headbutt, and a cheeky fence grab. He pushes every advantage he can and while plenty of fighters cheat, Narkun seems to do it flagrantly in almost every bout, drawing attention to how shoddy the officiating can be in KSW.

Hypothetical Gameplans

Tomasz Narkun might not be as dangerous as Mamed Khalidov on the feet, but it seems like he has a good number of advantages in this fight. Being the bigger man he will have a physical edge in the clinches and the wrestling to begin with, even if taking down light heavyweights has never been one of his great strengths. More than that, his striking might not be up to par with Khalidov’s, but Khalidov’s recklessness—the constant barrel rolling and stumbling off balance—means that he is always flirting with the disaster of getting stuck on the mat underneath Narkun.

We mentioned that Narkun’s front kicks have looked decent, particularly his right front kick. Against Khalidov it would be good to see him get trigger happy with this. Khalidov’s love of right leg spinning kicks means that the right front kick matches up as a balance breaker. Any time you see a man looking to spin, poke a straight kick in and if he opts to spin he’s likely to get knocked over. It’s not pretty, and a poke to the back or side isn’t going to cause any damage, but it does make turning kicks harder and often opens up the path to the back or the mat with a stumble. As Khalidov often back kicks and flying knees on the counter—and is regularly knocked off balance doing this—floating in behind a raised lead leg would get a great way to wedge inside Khalidov’s flashy counters. If Khalidov isn’t looking to spin at any time, the front kick is a weapon that maximizes The Giraffe’s range advantage while affording few counters that can’t be quickly turned into a clinch.

Most importantly it would be good to see Narkun apply the pressure. Against Karaoglu, Khalidov was made to look very uncomfortable simply by Karaoglu moving him towards the fence before attacking in flurries. It would be good to see Narkun walking Khalidov down, ducking under his single-shot right hands, and trying to wedge into a standing clinch or come up swinging as he’s out of position. Khalidov throws himself so badly off balance after every right hand that the openings should be plentiful if Narkun gets in his face. Simple catch-and-pitch right hands might work a treat if Narkun has the confidence in them. Khalidov throws his right hand, Narkun takes it on the left forearm, Khalidov is left leaning well off to his left—refusing to close the door with the left hook or get back to his guard—Narkun lands the short counter right straight to his right side.

When talking about a hypothetical gameplan for Khalidov one of the important things to remember is that this man seems to fight however he wants to, whether it is the smartest course of action or not. The great thing about Narkun—being not only a bigger man, but the best bigger man available in KSW and a top tier grappler—is that he might be the man to make Khalidov fight a little more cautiously.

Ideally, Khalidov would avoid the tumbles and throwing himself to the mat when he is out of position because he is unlikely to just be able to wing it on the ground with a technician of Narkun’s ability and also giving up a size disadvantage. In terms of the range and the reach, the Khalidov that turned up against Barnatt would be handy. Rather than trying to get in Narkun’s face—offering up clinches and giving away easy counters because his boxing is so one-punch-at-a-time—it would be good to see Khalidov take a step back and make Narkun come to him.

Narkun’s hands are awkward and he tends to fall back on the front kicks and an inside low kick. Khalidov’s overhand is a monstrous weapon and his timing has always been great—it would be good to see him make like the Machida boys and simply avoid exchanges until he has Narkun overstepping the mark—then he can step in and crack him with the overhand, rinse and repeat.

Tomasz Narkun has proven a quick finisher and the toughest fight of his recent career was the three round decision he lost to Goran Reljic back in 2014. Narkun had never gone the distance before that bout, he hasn’t gone the distance since, and he obviously slowed down in the later second and third rounds. In fact with the exception of that Reljic bout, Narkun has never even been into the third round—always a concern on a champion who is being booked into five round fights. Add to the that the reported 198 pound catchweight this bout is being fought at and Narkun will be doing some extra work to drain himself before the bell. But the catchweight also plays against Khalidov here—according to KSW’s official card the bout is only going to be three rounds rather than five rounds as in a title fight. That means that rather than getting three rounds of a tired and slowing Narkun, Khalidov will likely only get one.

Time management and long term strategy is not a Khalidov strong suit but in an ideal world, Khalidov would be looking to limit exchanges, draw Narkun forward, and connect on big counter right hands. Khalidov would keep his elbows tight and project the top of his head when Narkun tried to grab him off exchanges, and try to make Narkun work harder to achieve less. If Khalidov ends up in the guard, disengaging should be the priority but stalling Narkun out should be just as important—though with Khalidov you might just see him jump up and try to reap a leg for a heel hook.

Given Narkun’s often-open full guard and constant hip movement, we are still waiting to see someone drive him into the fence, stack his hips, and drop punches on him. As Khalidov will want to get the right hand off as often and hard as possible in this fight, a takedown and a push to the fence might not be the worst idea in the world—but it would probably be better to wait until the second round when Narkun isn’t quite as active and dangerous.

Mamed Khalidov is the savvy veteran in this bout, but the deck is stacked against him. For the last few years he has been winging it and besting his opponents seemingly however he feels he wants to fight. Tomasz Narkun represents the kind of fighter who should make Khalidov pay for failing to dot his Is and cross his Ts. For Narkun, a victory even with a size advantage would be his most significant to date and would make those in the know pay far more attention to him—at present he is considered a strong prospect in a very weak division with some glaring holes in his all around game. For Khalidov? Stepping up and beating the KSW champion in the weight class above his own, and doing so at thirty seven years old, would not just be the most impressive thing he’s done in a few years, it might be the performance for which we remember him once he hangs up his gloves for good.

This is without a doubt the most exciting and compelling match up KSW has put together to date. Champion vs. champion is always a brave chance to take, and perhaps in making the catchweight they are doing it the more sensible way. The only downside is that the bout is being robbed of its main event feel by only going three rounds. With fighters of this caliber there is really no excuse to not let them run the full twenty-five minute gauntlet. If the bout is anywhere near as good as this writer hopes, we will look into the finer points and the outcome on Monday.

Jack wrote the hit biography Notorious: The Life and Fights of Conor McGregor and he podcasts and writes at The Fight Primer .