Marcin Tybura had a phenomenal 2020 and is looking to build off of that on Saturday.
After being TKO’d by Shamil Abdurakhimov in April of 2019, he returned in September of that year and was knocked out in just 59 seconds by Augusto Sakai. After the losses, he had a new mindset for fighting and went 4-0 in 2020 with wins over Sergey Spivak, Maxim Grishin, Ben Rothwell, and a TKO win over Greg Hardy.
Tybura was then set to face Blagoy Ivanov at UFC 260 but Ivanov was forced out of the bout due to an injury. After the promotion couldn’t get a replacement opponent, he was booked to face Walt Harris in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 28 on June 5 which he’s excited about.
“It was just who the UFC offered me. I was supposed to fight Blagoy Ivanov at UFC 260 but he got injured and there was no good replacement so they rescheduled for me June,” Tybura said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “They offered me Walt Harris which I thought was even better because he’s higher ranked. He’s more famous, actually.”
Against Harris, Tybura knows he has to be wary of the power Harris posses in the first round. He saw what Harris did to the likes of Alexey Oleynik and Spivak among others. Yet, the Pole is confident he will be able to use his striking and grappling to drag the fight past the first round and gas out Harris.
“He goes hard in the first round then he gasses out, that’s the main thing. Obviously, he’s the most dangerous in the first round. But, I won’t just clinch him and make him tired and wrestle. I will make him tired by exchanging strikes with him,” Tybura said. “I’ve developed a lot in my striking game and I want to check at what level I’m at right now. I will do my best to try and finish him in the standup. Of course, it’s MMA so if that doesn’t go well I will just wrestle and grapple with him. That’s my plan for every fight.”
If Marcin Tybura does end up gassing out Harris, he knows he will be able to finish him. The Pole said he knows he has to start finishing more fights if he’s going to get a big push up the rankings. So, for Tybura, he says the goal is to get another knockout win.
“I’m able to knock out anybody. I can tell by the way I spar and the way I feel. But, up until now I only have one clear knockout,” Tybura said. “I’m not going to promise you guys I’m going to knock out Walt Harris but I will try.”
If Tybura does finish Harris, he would enter the top-10 at heavyweight. He hopes his next fight would be against a top-five opponent.
“I hope it gets me a top-five guy. I hope to jump over him in the rankings and get a big fight which will get me a title shot,” Tybura concluded.
Do you think Marcin Tybura will beat Walt Harris?