The MMA Daily

We have a pivotal fight in the Heavyweight division, as Marcin Tybura takes on Alexandr Romanov. Seeing a five-fight win streak come to an end in a recent defeat to Alexander Volkov, Tybura returns to the octagon looking to bounce back. Ranked eleventh in the Heavyweight division, Tybura is still well positioned to make a run. With a victory, he should find himself among the top ten. Meanwhile, Romanov will look to continue his accession up the Heavyweight division. Undefeated and having stopped four of his five UFC foes, Romanov will finally dip his toes in this ranked matchup.

Despite Romanov being undefeated and the odds indicating he should walk all over Tybura, I’m not as certain that will be the case. Romanov is definitely an exceptional talent, but this is by far his toughest test since joining the UFC in 2020. In fact, Romanov’s five opponents have combined for an 15-24 UFC record. Even worse, the last two opponents in Chase Sherman and Jared Vanderaa are a combined 5-14 in the UFC. Again though, Romanov is very skilled and is bound to be a contender. I just believe that Tybura is a live dog. With excellent takedown defense and evolving wrestling to go along with his already potent striking abilities, Tybura is on paper a tall task for Romanov. A fighter who, while well rounded, has mainly resorted to taking foes down and battering them via ground-and-pound. Considering Tybura hasn’t been taken down in his past eight fights, and has only has succumbed to a takedown in three of his fourteen UFC fights, I’d say Romanov is going to either struggle to get this fight to the mat or wear himself out over the course of the fight doing such. In the end, Romanov may win alone on control time against the cage. However, I’m willing to go on a whim and predict that Tybura wins via decision by creating separation and landing the more impactful strikes throughout the fight.