Tai Tuivasa and Marcin Tybura are looking out for a change in fortunes. The UFC Apex cage goes to look tiny when these two heavyweights duke it out at UFC Battle Evening time in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Tuivasa (15-6) desires a win badly. The Aussie fighter is in the intervening time experiencing the second three-fight dropping streak of his expert career. His most modern powerful stretch obtained right here in opposition to quite a lot of the division’s biggest — Ciryl Gane, Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov — all via stoppage. Tuivasa finds some comfort in understanding he’s stopping the heavyweight elite, nonetheless his motivation to beat Tybura is type of simple.
“F—, I don’t want to lose,” Tuivasa suggested CBS Sports activities actions. “No person likes being the loser. Clearly, my ultimate three opponents have been no slouches so that’s sort of an excellent issue. In my ultimate fight [against Volkov], I consider I’ll have come out on prime. There have been only some points that didn’t go my methodology. That’s merely it. I need to get my get once more this weekend. That’s the means it really works. You win, you lose, nonetheless it is best to get once more up and dust your self off.”
Tybura (24-8) has been certainly one of many additional underrated heavyweights for a while. Tybura entered his ultimate fight having quietly amassed a superb 7-1 run in opposition to the low and heart ends of the UFC heavyweight scale. It solely took 73 seconds for Tom Aspinall to crush his momentum. There’s no shame in dropping to the one who would rapidly after turn into interim heavyweight champion, nonetheless Tybura finds little comfort in that.
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“I felt truly good sooner than that fight. I was within the excellent type. All of the items was on stage in camp. The loss was very highly effective for me,” Tybura suggested CBS Sports activities actions. “In reality, it brings a bit bit sweetness that he’s interim champion correct now. Nonetheless there weren’t many points I’ll change for this camp.
“I took just a few weeks off the health heart to rebuild my hunger for this because of this loss killed a bit little bit of my angle. I wanted to rebuild it.”
The rest of the undercard fills out with 5 additional matchups. The co-main event sees a welterweight showdown between rising prospect Bryan Battle and veteran Ange Loosa. A pair of veterans are set to sq. off throughout the delicate heavyweight division when Kennedy Nzechukwu takes on Ovince Saint Preux. Elsewhere, Isaac Dulgarian and Christian Rodriguez are set to battle throughout the featherweight division. The one matchup with ranked fighters is able to occur throughout the girls’s bantamweight division when Macy Chiasson takes on Pannie Kianzad. And additional veterans open the precept card when middleweights Gerald Meerschaert takes on Bryan Barberena.
Below is the rest of the fight card for Saturday with the latest odds sooner than we get to a prediction and determine on the precept event.
UFC Battle Evening time card, odds
| Tai Tuivasa -115 | Marcin Tybura -105 | Heavyweight |
| Bryan Battle -180 | Ange Loosa +155 | Welterweight |
| Kennedy Nzechukwu -750 | Ovince Saint Preux +525 | Mild heavyweight |
| Isaac Dulgarian -205 | Christian Rodriguez +170 | Featherweight |
| Macy Chiasson -205 | Pannie Kianzad +155 | Ladies’s bantamweight |
| Gerald Meerschaert -250 | Bryan Barberena +205 | Middleweight |
UFC Battle Evening time viewing information
Date: March 16 | Start time: 7 p.m. ET (major card)
Location: UFC Apex — Las Vegas
TV channel: ESPN+
Prediction
Tai Tuivasa vs. Marcin Tybura: The betting traces have this fight at a near determine ’em for good trigger. Tuivasa is on a horrible stretch nonetheless has confronted extra sturdy opposition than his subsequent opponent. Tybura is additional well-rounded nonetheless has suffered 5 KOs in eight losses as he prepares for knowledgeable KO artist. This fight should play out throughout the spirit of striker vs. grappler. Tuivasa has a live-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword angle with 18 stoppages in 20 fights. He’s notched KOs in 13 of his 14 wins. Tybura ought to take down Tuivasa. Tybura averages 1.39 takedowns per quarter-hour in opposition to a fighter who has not at all landed a takedown in seven years throughout the UFC. We have not seen Tuivasa’s takedown safety examined so much at the moment, nevertheless it certainly’s relating to that Derrick Lewis, who primarily not at all wrestles, acquired him down twice of their fight. I consider Tybura is probably going one of many additional under-appreciated fighters throughout the division. He did seem to point out a nook ahead of the Aspinall fight. It’s easy to forgive that effectivity understanding merely how good Aspinall is. Sadly, I don’t assume Tybura has ample offensive threats or defensive soundness to stop Tuivasa from landing that one big bomb. Tuivasa via KO2
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