French kickboxing veteran Jerome Le Banner has suffered a knee injury and will be unable to compete against Polish talent Marcin Rozalski at KSW 18.
According to an official release, Le Banner suffered a torn meniscus during his final fight preparations. As a result, Rozalski will now face Strikeforce veteran Valentijn Overeem (Pictured) in the Feb. 25 headliner, which takes place Saturday at the Orlen Arena in Plock, Poland.
Sherdog.com confirmed the switch with KSW official Artur Przybysz on Wednesday afternoon, and the official announcement came shortly thereafter. The bout replaces a light heavyweight collision between Jan Blachowicz and David Branch as the main event. KSW revealed earlier today that Branch had been removed from the event due to passport issues, and that Blachowicz will now face Mario Miranda.
A 16-year veteran of the sport, Overeem is the older brother of current UFC heavyweight contender Alistair Overeem. Known as “The Python,” the Dutchman recently wrapped a two-fight stint in Strikeforce that produced mixed results. Though the 35-year-old was victorious in his promotional debut against Ray Sefo, he would fall in his sophomore Strikeforce effort, losing by technical knockout to Chad Griggs this past June.
Rozalski boasts just a fraction of Overeem’s experience, holding only two MMA bouts to his credit. The ex-kickboxer was victorious in both of his KSW appearances last year, earning technical knockouts over Marcin Bartkiewicz in March and Sergey Shemetov in May.
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