The MMA Daily

This is a great fight, as Marcin Tybura has an excellent chance to crack the Heavyweight division’s top five. At one point, Tybura was nearly cut. He lost four of five fights, and had been stopped in three of them. To bounce back like this and be on the precipice of being a contender is nothing short of resilience and belief. Tybura will most likely need to work-in his wrestling in this fight, as Alexander Volkov is one of the toughest strikers to stand across. Standing at 6’7 and with an 81’ reach, Volkov does an excellent job at keeping range and picking apart opponents. Landing nearly five strikes a minute, Volkov is one of the more high output strikers in the division.

As for a prediction, I have Volkov winning. The Russian is one of the best fighters in the Heavyweight division, and has only lost three times in ten UFC fights. Given those three losses have come against the #1 ranked Heavyweight Cyril Gane, #3 ranked Heavyweight Derrick Lewis and the #4 ranked Heavyweight Curtis Blaydes, I’d say Volkov truly has only been defeated by several of the division’s best. In a fight in which I expect Tybura to wrestle, expect some success early. However, as the fight wanes, Volkov will get the timing down and batter Tybura on the feet. In the end, Volkov will grab a decision victory.