Marcin Tybura entered UFC Fight Night 239 coming off a loss to interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, but what proved notable on the night was the fact that he was a perfect 3-0 in fights at the promotion’s Apex complex in Las Vegas.
Tybura, the No. 10 fighter in the heavyweight division, improved that record to 4-0 in spectacular fashion, withstanding the dangerous Tai “Bam Bam” Tuivasa’s early assault before finding his way to victory in the night’s main event.
It was looking like a Tuivasa type of fight early as the birthday boy was able to get a hold of Tybura and land his signature elbows, drawing blood less than 60 seconds into the contest.
But things turned quickly after the Polish heavyweight withstood the early onslaught and successfully brought the fight to the canvas. Once Tybura got both leg hooks secured he began unloading on Tuivasa’s head while controlling momentum on the ground the rest of the way.
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It only took the 38-year-old a few minutes to lock in a rear-naked choke, and despite a valiant effort from Tuivasa to withstand the pressure on his neck, the referee had seen enough to end the contest at the 4:08 mark of round one.
With the victory, Tybura improved his professional record to 25-8 and earned his 12th UFC win, the fifth-most amongst the promotion’s active heavyweights — and did so by taking down the fighter right above him in the rankings. Despite the strong finish, he wasn’t ready to call out any contenders in the division just yet.
“I just wanted to prove to everybody that I’m still capable of doing good in the top 10,” Tybura said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “I didn’t prepare any names, because I’m coming out of the loss … anyone from the top 10 would be great for me.”
Meanwhile, Tuivasa has now lost four consecutive fights and hasn’t won in the octagon since he knocked out Derrick Lewis at UFC 271. Fans may appreciate his brazen style and unorthodox celebrations, but it’s been over two years since they’ve been able to witness a victory “shoey” and the 30-year-old is now 1-4 in contests that don’t end by KO/TKO.
The question coming into the co-main event between Bryan Battle and Ange Loosa was which of the two welterweights could extend their win streak to three, and the answer fight fans got was the least desirable… as it was neither.
Battle was building momentum early looking like the sharper fighter throughout round one, landing a handful of quick combinations. However, once round two got underway the fighters began exchanging blows in the middle of the octagon, Battle inadvertently struck Loosa in the eye with his thumb.
Referee Mike Beltran called an official timeout, brought in a ring-side doctor to examine and Loosa made it known that he could not see out of his left eye. Beltran, under the recommendation of the doctor, put an end to the fight and declared it a no-contest.
There was no love lost between the two opponents as they immediately began jawing at each other following the decision and had to be separated. Battle took it a step further when talking to Bisping in the ring post-fight, saying “You can’t tell me he (Loosa) wasn’t looking for a way out.”
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Ovince Saint Preux, despite having the second-most finishes in the history of the UFC’s light heavyweight division, came into his fight against Kennedy Nzechukwu as an overwhelming underdog (+380) — likely because he had lost three of his last four fights, all by early stoppage.
None of that seemingly mattered when Saint Preux left his corner ahead of the third round and his coach Eric Turner told him to “remind them who you are.”
The 40-year-old heeded those words and simply let loose, immediately catching Nzechukwu with an uppercut and sending him to the ground. Both fighters exchanged blows throughout the final five minutes with Saint Preux ultimately coming out on top, earning his 15th victory in the UFC. The win also tied him with Ryan Bader for third-most in the light heavyweight division in modern UFC history.
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Saint Preux wasn’t the only one to join elite company on Saturday night, as Gerald Meerschaert cemented his name next to Anderson Silva’s in the middleweight history books.
When the veteran grappler secured a rear-naked choke and got Bryan Barberena to tap in round two of their bout, he not only secured his 11th finish in the UFC, he also tied Silva for most in the division’s history. He wasn’t able to get the choke secured under Barberena’s neck cleanly but Meerschaert cranked on his jaw so hard that the 34-year-old fell asleep anyway. Meerschaert has now won 36 fights as a professional and 28 of them have come via submission.
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In preliminary action, Thiago Moisés and Jaqueline Amorin also added to the record books.
Moises picked up a TKO victory over Mitch Ramirez after sending the American to the ground and unloading on him with a flurry of leg kicks. It was just the 17th time in UFC history that a finish came in that fashion. Meanwhile, Amorin made quick work of Cory McKenna after securing an armbar and forcing a tap just 1:38 into round one. It was the fourth-fastest finish in UFC strawweight history.
Canadian Chad Anheliger had the pleasure of opening the night’s preliminary action in a bantamweight bout against UFC debutant Charalampos Grigoriou.
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The Calgary native was coming in off the heels of back-to-back losses, but his veteran experience proved enough to come out victorious. Anheliger fought a close first round but overwhelmed the 31-year-old out of Cyprus, landing clean combinations en route to a unanimous decision win.
Next week, action will remain at the Apex as UFC Fight Night 240 is headlined by No. 8 women’s flyweight contender Amanda Ribas taking on former strawweight champion Rose “Thug” Namajunas on Mar. 23.
