Despite being 38 years old, Marcin Tybura (25-8 MMA, 12-7 UFC) remains a fixture of the UFC heavyweight top-10. Currently ranked No. 8 in the division, he next steps into the cage this weekend to contend with the Moldovan steamroller, Serghei Spivac (16-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC), who sits right above him in the 265-lb. division’s upper echelon at No. 9. Coming off the back of an impressive first round submission win over crowd-favorite Tai Tuivasa, Tybura will look to extend his winning streak as he looks to make another run toward the top of the division.
On the other side of things, this fight is a must-win for the Spivac, considering he is returning from nearly a year’s layoff after being dominated by French standout Ciryl Gane last September. To make matters even more urgent for the “Polar Bear”, his main event matchup this Saturday versus “Tybur” is actually their second meeting in the promotion, with Tybura having bested Spivac once before in 2020.
Although he may be reaching the later stages of his career, Tybura is still showing that he has what it takes to contend with some of the best heavyweights in the world. Should he take his second encounter with Spivac, he will further cement himself amongst the top 265-lb. contenders in the UFC.
Marcin Tybura: The Early Years
Jumping straight into the professional ranks just a few days before his birthday on Nov. 5, 2011, Tybura kicked off his debut by fighting twice on the same night at the Polish MMA Championships Finals. Here, he would defeat both of his opponents, Robert Marcok and Adam Wieczorek, by submission and unanimous decision, respectively. Going on a subsequent tear across Europe, Tybura accumulated a magnificent 13-1 record, winning and defending the M-1 Global Heavyweight Championship on two occasions.
A UFC Deal, Ups, and Downs
Eventually, however, he relinquished said title when he finally got the call to join the UFC in 2017, where he unfortunately came up short in his debut against Timothy Johnson. The loss did little to hamper the Pole, though, as Tybura quickly racked up a three fight win streak, which included a unanimous decision win over former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski. Sadly, this success was cut woefully short when “Tybur” hit a very rough patch in his career, as he next went on to lose four of his next five fights, his only victory coming against Stefan Struve.
While it looked like Tybura’s time in the UFC might have been coming to a tragic end, the Pole encountered a sudden resurgence in positive results. Beginning with a unanimous decision win over Serghei Spivac in 2020, the Pole rattled off a splendid five fight win streak, beating Maxim Grishin, Ben Rothwell, Greg Hardy, and Walt Harris. Appearing to be a true threat at 265 lbs., Tybura next fought Alexander Volkov at UFC 267: Blachowicz vs. Teixeira, where the Russian would end “Tybur”’s win streak in dominant fashion by winning their bout by unanimous decision.
Losing Steam Before A Much-Needed Win
From here, Tybura wasn’t quite able to build up much momentum again, with him taking his next two fights Alexandr Romanov and Blagoy Ivanov before suffering a devastating knockout loss to surging heavyweight phenom Tom Aspinall in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Aspinall vs Tybura.
With another winning streak of his snuffed out in unfortunate fashion, Tybura did what he does best: Gather himself up and come back to remind the world why he has been a recognizable name in the division for seven years and remind everyone he did when he managed to choke out the hard-hitting Tai Tuivasa last March, dragging “Bam Bam” to the canvas and locking in a first-round rear naked choke.
Final Thoughts
This leads us to today, and “Tybur” will have the opportunity to face down another young, up-and-coming name in his old foe, Serghei Spivac. It’s unclear just how far he’ll be able to climb in this stacked heavyweight class, considering his age and the miles he’s given to the sport. However, given his tenacity over the years to remain in the conversation as one of the best heavyweights out there, don’t be surprised if Tybura starts up another sudden win streak and lands himself near the peak of the division’s pecking order.
