Scott Askham on his KSW resurgence: ‘They thought I was can to be crushed’

MMAfighting.com

Scott Askham was thought to be fodder for Michal Materla ahead of his KSW debut in March 2018.

Now, with three stoppage wins under his belt in as many promotional outings, as well as the organization’s championship belt wrapped around his waist, it’s safe to say he has changed a lot of opinions in terms of the Polish fan base.

KSW founder Martin Lewandowski tweeted about the how KSW fans didn’t expect much from Askham when he signed ahead of the Englishman’s second meeting with Materla at KSW 49. At the event, Askham went on to take another stoppage win over the national legend, this time with a flying knee in the third round.

Speaking about his resurgence with KSW, the newly crowned champion praised the organization itself, insisting that they never made him feel like was just being brought in to lose to one of their established names.

“A lot of people from Poland probably did feel like that, they thought I was a can to be crushed to build up their fighters,” Askham told MMA Fighting’s Eurobash podcast.

“I feel like KSW put a lot of faith in me from the start. It wasn’t a one-fight deal that I signed; it was for three fights. I took some belief from that, I’m not saying they wanted me to win or anything like that…that just goes to show you how they work. I feel like I’ve really won the crowd over now. A lot more are on my side, they still back the Polish more, but they probably should—I actually like to see that.”

Askham remembers a promotional poll that declared that 94 percent of voters believed that Materla would win their first meeting at KSW 42 in March 2018, Askham’s first outing under the banner. Askham stopped the proceedings a little over a minute into the contest with a crunching body shot.

Despite the emphatic finish, the Englishman saw another poll, which showed that 80 percent of voters thought Materla would be successful in their rematch at KSW 49.

“Materla is a legend over there. When they do the polls before the fight, before the last fight 94 percent of people said that Materla would win the fight. For this fight, it was still 80 percent in favor of Materla. So, yeah, I won some over, but I still have 80 percent to convince,” he quipped.

Considering their epic back and forth at KSW 49, Askham lauded Materla as a “true warrior”.

“It was a crackin’ fight, man. Materla is a true warrior, I do see why the fans love him. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I watched the fight ending sequence and he’s still throwing powerful strikes to try and finish the fight, he’s got no quit in him whatsoever. The first time we fought he did the same, I hit him with the body shot, he crumbled but he threw up this overhand right. Before I fought him I did expect that, I’d also seen that when he fought Mamed Khalidov. He was literally dancing on rocked legs, he couldn’t even stand up straight, but he was still trying his best to hit Khalidov with a powerful strike,” he remembered,” he said.

“I know what kind of fighter he is, he’s a true warrior and I’m sure he’ll be back.”

Although he has nothing set in stone, Askham indicated that fighting promotional legend Mamed Khalidov would be a dream come true.

“I dream about that fight. London is on the horizon and it would be a quick turnaround, but again, that’s always been something that I’ve liked. I don’t know if London would be a possiblity, we haven’t spoke to KSW yet. I know he has teased that he would be back, so that would be great. I don’t know else would be available for the London card, who else is there? It could possibly be one more and then Khalidov next year, I don’t know. There are rumors of [KSW] doing another stadium, so that would be another dream. Khalidov in that stadium would be the biggest moment of my career by far.”