Tuivasa vs Tybura Prediction & Betting Tips - UFC Fight Night

Prediction published on 15/03/2024, 06:00  by Devesh Jaganath in MMA Predictions

Tai Tuivasa will take on Marcin Tybura in the heavyweight main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas. Tuivasa currently has a record of 15-6-0 and is ranked ninth in the UFC Heavyweight division, while Tybura holds a record of 24-8-0 and is ranked tenth. 

Australian heavyweight Tai Tuivasa comes into this high-stakes bout looking to get back to winning ways. He faces to pressure of bouncing back from a three-fight losing streak against second-ranked Ciryl Gane, third-ranked Sergei Pavlovich, and world number six Alexander Volkov. Tuivasa, aged 30, has encountered a three-loss streak before, notably in 2018-2019. However, he responded impressively by securing victory in his subsequent five fights, delivering a series of notable knockout and technical knockout wins. Despite being one of the most experienced fighters in the weight class, Tuivasa’s ground game remains one of his weaker points, as we saw when Volkov got him to submit last year. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the Aussie is one of the biggest hitters in this division, relying on brute strength and eating shots to get him through fights. Expect Tuivasa to try and land early in an attempt to pick up the win by KO. 

Meanwhile, the Pole, Marcin Tybura, heads into this week’s main event with a decent record of 7-2 across his last nine fights. Equipped with a well-balanced array of skills, he will be determined to come out on top here, reaffirm his position in the division and move closer to the top contenders. In contrast to Tuivasa, Tybura is an accomplished grappler, and while his style is by no means the cleanest, he is more than comfortable taking up good positions and raining down his lethal ground and pound, as we saw him use to good effect against Andrei Arlovski, Walt Harris and Greg Hardy. However, Tybura has struggled against heavy-handed strikers in the past, and he is currently rebounding from a TKO defeat last time out. At 38, the Pole is eight years older than his opponent but is still a genuine threat. Still, he will likely struggle to go strike for strike with the Aussie and will need to shoot for early takedowns to try and wear down his opponent before looking for a finish later on in the match.