Damian Piwowarczyk Wows en Route to UFC Deal
The former KSW stalwart secured a UFC deal Tuesday in DWCS 93
Damian Piwowarczyk (12-4 MMA, 1-0 DWCS) entered DWCS 93 on Tuesday night with a two-fight winning streak to his credit but plenty to live up to. Heading into this seventh week of action on DWCS, 28 graduates from this season had already secured a UFC deal as a direct result of appearing on the show.
Piwowarczyk drew the assignment of OKTAGON MMA stalwart Emilio Quissua (8-1 MMA, 0-1 DWCS) in Tuesday night's opening bout at light heavyweight. Heading into this week's event, the latter fighter had yet to lose thus far in his professional MMA career.
In January, Quissua scored a first-round TKO victory after his opponent, Joric Montagnac (7-1 MMA,) could not continue in the contest upon suffering a knee injury inside the bout's first two minutes of action. This was Quissua's second consecutive victory by stoppage in the opening round of a fight.
Damian Piwowarczyk Overcomes Quickness of Quissua
After referee Herb Dean called time right after the fight began due to a low blow from Piwowarczyk, Quissua scored with kicks to the leg and landed a few punches to back his opponent up to the fence of the cage. Piwowarczyk, however, returned fire with straight rights.
Upon Quissua initiating and breaking away from a clinch, he landed a vicious kick to Piwowarczyk's head, but the latter was undaunted, landing knees in the clinch. As the first round of the bout neared its conclusion, Damian Piwowarczyk connected on a vicious punch to the head, sitting Emilio Quissua down.
Damian Piwowarczyk piled on a barrage of shots, forcing Herb Dean to call the bout in his favor with five seconds remaining in the opening round of a scheduled three inside Meta Apex.
Alan Jouban on Damian Piwowarczyk's Win in DWCS 93
DWCS 93 on Tuesday night marked the first time that Alan Jouban served as an analyst on Paramount Plus' telecast of the midweek MMA promotion. In the immediate aftermath of Damian Piwowarczyk's win inside Meta Apex, Jouban was impressed with what he saw.
"We spoke about the durability of Piwowarczyk," Jouban said. "He's been in a lot of wars. He's been in KSW and been in this position before. We haven't quite seen that out of Quissua, and as soon as the tides turned, it was all Damian Piwowarczyk."
Dana White Officially Gives Damian Piwowarczyk UFC Deal
With Damian Piwowarczyk being among the first fighters to make the walk to the Octagon on Tuesday night, he had a longer wait than others to find out whether or not he made it into MMA's No. 1 promotion. UFC CEO Dana White met with Laura Sanko upon the conclusion of the main event of the evening for the announcement of the night's contract winners.
From there, White said the words that Piwowarczyk and his camp wanted to hear.
"Damian, great first round," White began. "Emilio's a tough guy. He was putting it on you in that first round, and what do you do? You knock him out with less than 10 seconds left in the first round. Congratulations, you're in the UFC."
All told, six fighters secured UFC contracts on the evening, including two fighters who lost their contest, bringing the total number of contract recipients this year to 34.
