Shamil Abdurakhimov’s boxing looked on point at UFC St. Petersburg, as he rocked and finished Marcin Tybura in the second round.
Marcin Tybura is a former M-1 heavyweight champion who is 4-3 in the Octagon. After losing to Timothy Johnson in his UFC debut, the Polish fighter won three straight fights with a pair of knockouts and a win over former champion Andrei Arlovski. His streak was snapped by losses to Fabricio Werdum and Derrick Lewis. He was able to bounce back in July with a victory against Stefan Struve.
Shamil Abdurakhimov also lost to Timothy Johnson in his UFC debut, but is 4-1 since then. The Russian sandwiched a loss to Derrick Lewis in between two-fight win streaks. On his current streak, Abdurakhimov knocked out Chase Sherman, then defeated Andrei Arlovski.
Despite both men being pretty good grapplers, there was no grappling in the first round. What we got instead was a pretty entertaining first round that saw Shamil moving forward looking for overhand rights, most of which were landing. When Tybura was moving backwards, he was leaving his head straight up, which allowed Shamil to land a lot of big rights. As a result, the first round goes to Shamil Abdurakhimov.
Cageside Press Scores Round One 10-9 for Shamil Abdurakhimov.
The second round was going better for Marcin Tybura, as he was landing a couple of high kicks early. However, Shamil began to use his level changes to set up his boxing. Shamil landed a left hook that staggered Tybura, and as Tybura was backing into the cage, Shamil threw a big combination that dropped Tybura and ultimately ended the fight.
This sequence by @ShamilAbrek makes it 3/3 finishes at #UFCStPetersburg pic.twitter.com/6bWYLKOASg
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 20, 2019
Shamil Abdurakhimov’s boxing looked on point as he moves to 5-2 in the UFC. After a performance like this, he looks like a dark horse contender in a competitive heavyweight division.
Shamil Abdurakhimov def. Marcin Tybura by TKO in Round 2 (3:15)
